Crossing from the Light
by SevenOverThree
Summary: While in Twilight town, Danny discovers a group called Org. XIII. Where will these new friends and enemies lead him? DPKH cross. Mass crossover in later chapters. Danny's POV unless said otherwise. Character death. On hiatus till further notice.
1. Intro and an offer

Disclaimer: Dp © BH, Kh © SE

Mendirax belongs to me, though he _was_ modeled after Darkside. So to do the keyblades; Destinys Balance and Shadows Corruption

A sort of AU Kingdom hearts/AU Danny phantom crossover oneshot.

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-Danny's POV-

It all began after Phantom ended. After the ghost era. After I left the place that I had once called my home. I had been laying in the alleyway of a strange town, one called Twilight town. It was quiet and nearly empty, the most action coming from a fighting tournament called 'Struggle', one I would have participated in had it not been for my obvious lack of knowledge about it, and my advantage over nearly everyone there.

My life, up until that brown haired boy, had been more peaceful than it had been in years.

The boy had appeared one day, bringing with him strange creatures, Which I have learned are called 'Nobody's' and 'Heartless'

I had met him at one of the many Struggle tournaments I watched, He had appeared new, and the duck and dog-like creatures that he was traveling with made him stand out all-the-further. Being the nice guy I am, I introduced myself. The brown-haired boy had introduced himself as 'Sora', not mentioning any last name. He, afterwards, introduced his friends as 'Donald' and 'Goofy'.

It was once we had all gathered with one another at the Sandlot, Site of the Struggle tournament, that everything turned around. I had, at first, been alone, contemplating possible last names for Sora, when a group of small, shadowy black creatures phased up from the ground. They hobbled toward me, and, despite my urge to fight them, I could not move. I could hear voices, their voices, whispering in my head, telling me to give them my heart.

Quicker then the creatures had appeared, I jumped up, transforming into Phantom and floating into the air. The creatures screamed in anger, despite their lack of mouths. I had broken free of their hypnotizing stare, and they had lost a heart.

I had just finished destroying half of the creatures, Heartless, when Sora ran into the Sandlot. He stared at me, And me at him. After several minutes of staring at each other, I felt the penetrating glare of a powerful dark creature. Yet, when I looked around, nothing was there.

"Danny?" I heard Sora say. I continued to stare at Sora. Should I simply fly away? Tell him I'm half ghost? Or should I deny I'm Danny? I sighed, landing in front of the curious-looking Sora.

"Yeah. Guess I should know better than to hide myself after what happened back in Amity." I looked at Sora. He was looking past me, at something that seemed to be behind me. I turned around to see a shadowy, tentacled monter. It looked like a mixture of Undergrowth, and some alien creature from a poorly funded horror film. It's skin -could I even call it that?- and vine-like hair was a sort of deep teal color, it's eyes a pale yellow, matching the heartless's. It had a muscled body, and claws adorned its fingers where nails should have been. A scarf-like object, the exact color of its skin, was wrapped around the lower half of its face, covering any possible mouth.  
It seemed to hover on the ground, as when it stood still, only the tips of its feet touched the ground.  
I hovered silently, charging my hands up with ectoplasmic blasts, while Sora summoned his famous keyblade. The creature seemed to be uninterested in the keybearer, and created a strange force-feild around him. It then turned to me, and spoke in a gravelly tone that was hard, yet, at the same time, easy to decipher.

"You are not a keybearer, yet you hold the aura of a key. Darkness consumes your heart, yet it is filled with light. Could you be the legendary 'keyblade trapped in human form'? It would be a terribly ironic pairing, it would. The Door to light and the Destinys Balance, both trapped in human form, both fighting alongside one another, even though they were both enemys in the life now past. I wonder if Balance knows where Corruption lies...?" It said.

"Destinys Balance? What are you talking about? My name is _Danny Fenton_. And what do you mean, 'where corruption lies'?" I said, growling slightly when the creature chuckled at me.

"It seems Balance has not yet recovered its true memories, nor, its keychain. Oh, well." It leaned toward me, and as I was about to shoot my fully charged ecto-beams at it, I found myself unable to move. "Just beware of when the keybearer trys to use your keychain. You will lose your current life. You would do well to deflect away from him. My offer remains open. Simply speak my name once you have decided. I am _Mendirax_." I felt both comfort and fear rush through me at the sound of his name.  
Before the creature, Mendirax, could leave, I yelled a question out to it.

"What offer?" I watched as Mendirax turned to me again, a smile on its face.

"Good boy. I was hoping you would ask. After all, why would you join us if you didn't know what it was you were joining, hmm?" I sighed.

"Can you get to the point?"

"Yes, yes. You see, I want you to join Organization Thirteen." I turned to Sora, hearing muffled complaints as he pounded on the walls of the force feild detaining him. He was shaking his head back and forth while mouthing 'No', and looked both scared and determined. I turned back to Mendirax. I had half a mind to accept the offer, just to see what the Organization was, but the other half of my mind told me to decline. I was standing on the fence.

"What does Org. thirteen do?"I asked. Mendirax chuckled, and muttered to himself in a language I didn't recognise, quickly speaking up again.

"Org. Thirteen is a group of people that seek to discover the mysteries that lie within the heart. They are nothing you need fear, Balance."

I sat on the ground. So... This organization wanted nothing more than to learn about the heart? I myself wanted to learn more about the 'mysterys of the heart', as in this world, the heart seemed to hold some sort of higher importance. I knew about Heartless, and that if they took your heart you would turn into one. Nobodies were confusing, and much smarter, I knew, than Heartless, so I simply blasted them when I saw them.  
I took a look at Sora, and saw he had his hands pressed against the glowing, blue tinted walls of his prison. He was staring at me, desperation in his eyes. He, for some reason, didn't seem to like the idea of me joining this group of people. Why though? From what I could understand, they simply wanted to learn. They sounded like scientists to me. Though their name_ was_ a little strange, I admited that.

I stood back up, my answer not actually decided, as the hero part of me said to attack, then save Sora. It said that something about Mendirax was bad.

"Fine. I'll go. But I'm liable to up and leave if I don't like it." Dispite the fact that I might turn on the Organization, Mendirax grinned. Or at least, what I suspect was grinning. He could have been scowling. I couldn't really tell with that scarf thing on his face.

"Good, Good... Come with me, Balance" Mendirax said. However, I didn't move.

"I'm not going anywhere until you tell me why you keep calling me Balance." Mendirax walked over to me, and spoke in an amused tone.

"I will tell you all you wish to know once we get to The World That Never Was. It is the home of Organization Thirteen." Mendirax turned again, and raised a hand, opening a shadowy black portal a little ways away from them.  
I turned back to Sora, deciding taking a look at him before I followed Mendirax though the portal. Sora was sitting in a sort of kneeling position, and his fists were pressed against the walls of his blue tinted prison. His hair partially covered his face, a shadow covering his eyes. He was grimacing slighty, and looked beaten. Part of me wanted to run to him, and try to make him laugh. I felt horrible leaving him like I was.

"Hey, Mendirax... Can you release Sora? He's a friend..." I asked, taking a quick glance at the shadowy green creature before turning back to Sora.  
Sora was staring at me. I could read the look in his eyes perfectly. He couldn't figure out what to do. He was, probably for the first time in quite a while, confused about what to do. The blue force field lowered, but Sora made no attempt at moving. He just kept staring at me. He mouthed a sentance, or maybe had spoken it, just softly. But I knew what he had said.

"Why? Why are you going with the Heartless?" Heartless? Mendirax... was a Heartless? I turned to the almost-but-not-quite-floating creature. He didn't _look_ like a heartless... Heartless looked like some sort of freaky ant with only two sets of limbs. And, I remembered, Heartless were nowere _near_ as smart and self aware as Mendirax was.

I sighed, and turned from Sora to Mendirax. I would return to Sora later. Right now though, I had to meet this organization, and learn about why Mendirax had dubbed me 'Balance'

"Probably has something to do with the fact that I'm half ghost." I muttered to myself, as the shadowy portals infinite darkness engulfed us, transporting us both to this 'world that never was'.

One thought ran through my mind as I looked at Sora though the tiny, and rapidly closing hole in the shadows.

Had I done the right thing?


	2. Meeting the Org

**Disclaimer:** Dp © BH, Kh © SE

Mendirax belongs to me, though he _was_ modeled after Darkside. So to do the keyblades; Destinys Balance and Shadows Corruption. The male unknown voice might belong to me. Not sure as of yet. Daxot is the Nobody of Toad, thus doesn't belong to me, but Nexidal and Naxan where made by me and my sister, so, do belong to me. Axel belongs to SE.

**Authors notes:**

--The italisized voice, Naxan, is female, and the bolded one is male.

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-Unknown POV-

_"Is he with us?"_

**"Who knows, Naxan... Balance is unpredictable."**

_"Does he trust Mendirax?"_

**"Almost. We just need to be patient. In time, he will come to us willingly."**

_"And the Keybearer...?"_

**"Hmm... He will be a nuisance... We will need to do something about him."**

_"What about Balance?"_

**"...What do you mean?"**

_"Balance is friends with the Keybearer. We could use him to capture the boy."_

**"Yes... We could, couldn't we..."**

_"On another note... What of the new members, Myself included?"_

**"Out of you all... Daxot and Nexidal are the most intriguing..."**

_"How so, sir?"_

**"They have powers... Strange ones. Nexidal appears to have strength and intelligance beyond any mortal, along with a knack for pyrokinesis... And he has _far_ too much energy... But Daxot... He is... I'm not quite sure about him..."**

_"In all honesty, sir... Daxot sort of... 'Creeps us all out'... Are you sure he is... well?" _

**"Heheh...I'm confidant that Daxot is perfectly fine... Just a little strange... But it isn't Daxot you should worry about, my friend. You should consentrate on helping to gain Balances trust..."**

_"Alright."_

**"... I want you to do something."**

_"Anything you say..."_

0o0o0o0

I had discovered upon exiting the portal, that calling the city 'gloomy' would have been an understatement. The place was dark beyond all measures, and I was pretty sure that even Sam wouldn't have liked it. In the shadows -Or, at least, the ones I could see, ironicly enough- I could see things moving. Beside me, Mendirax shifted his position, and chuckled.

"Are you all right, Balance?"

"I'm just... bothered." I couldn't help feeling that I had betrayed Sora, betrayed my friends back in Amity park, and turned on my reason for existing. I still felt like attacking Mendirax, but the longer I was with him, the more I felt that I couldn't do it.

"You _do_ look troubled... Ah, there's Naxan." I looked up to see a girl, probably in her early twentys, walk up to us. I noted that she was wearing a hooded black cloak that had an odd zipper down the front, and she had brown hair that was done up in a long braid in the back. Her eyes were an entrancing golden-green, and she was looking at me curiously.

"So... You must be Mendirax and Balance... Or would you perfer Danny?" I sighed happily. Finally, someone who would call me Danny.

"Danny, please. But I still want to know why eveyone is calling me Balance." I turned from the girl, Naxan, to Mendirax, remembering that he had said he would tell me 'everything I wanted to know once we got to the world that never was'. Mendirax glanced over at Naxan.

"I did promise him." He said, turning back to me."Why have we been calling you Balance? Well-" Mendirax said, before Naxan cut him off.

"Be prepared for a monologue." She was smiling, and looked amused.

'A monologue?' I thought. '_Great..._' Mendirax glared at Naxan before continuing.

"Balance, as you already know, is short for Destinys Balance. Destinys Balance was a powerful keyblade weilded by a person known to us now as 'Keymaster'. Keymaster lived thousands of years ago, before most worlds were even formed, so his duty was not as great, as most forms of monsters that... _Inhabit_ the worlds now didn't exist. His Keyblade, Balance, was... Picky, I guess you could say, and once Keymaster died, Balance detected noone it deemed worthy enough to weild it. It even went as far as traveling to other worlds in an attempt to find a weilder. Eventually, it gave up its search, stopping on the world known as Earth, a unique world that held it own barrier to the dark monsters of the universe. It was, after sealing away its own keychain, granted a human form. However, its form was that of a newborn child. As an aftereffect, and result of being turned into a newborn, its memorys, abilitys, and almost everything about it were nearly permanently sealed. However, during its fourteenth year, its powers were reawakened, and by an otherworldly shock of epic proportions. In case you missed it, I'm saying _you_ were the human child Balance turned into. "

I stared at the large deep teal creature. I wasn't actually a human?

"W-what's a keyblade?" I stammered. I already knew, but it simply seemed like the question to ask at the time.

"A keyblade... That is difficult to explain. A keyblade is a weapon of immense power, and can only be used by someone the blade deems worthy." Naxan said, turning around while motioning for me and Medirax to follow. I stood still, watching as the deep teal being followed Naxan, and I quickly ran to catch up with them both. I didn't want to get left behind in this dark world.

0o0o0o0

I had been shocked when I saw the castle. It was a bright silver, nearly blinding in color compared to the city it stood watch over. I stuck near Mendirax and Naxan as we walked through the place, as strange variations of the Dusk creature appeared whenever we turned around. They looked curious about me, but somewhat expectant toward Naxan, who I later learned was one of thirteen who controled them.

Not one of them looked at all pleased about Mendirax being there. In fact, I saw some who looked like they were about to attack him, and just barely holding themselves back.  
I had begun staring at the floor as we walked through a long passageway, retreating to my thoughts and wishing I knew how Sora was doing. He had looked next to miserable before I had left. I half wanted to go back, retreat and retrace my steps, deny Mendirax's offer. I would've then gained a fighting stance, and retaliated had the apparant 'Heartless' attacked us. Had we won, I would've joined Sora at the local snack bar for a celebratory Sea salt Ice cream dish, afterwards, sparing with him in the forest nearby. Had we lost, I would've probably picked Sora up and flown away, most likely to my hideout, hidden away on the edge of town. We would've waited out the danger there, or I would've followed Sora as he bolted out for a rematch with the thing.  
I was broken out of my thoughts as Naxan called out to me.

"Danny! Guard yourself!"

I looked up, seeing a mixture of Heartless in front of and behind us. They looked ready to attack, and I ducked as one of them, a larger, more powerful looking version of the ant-creatures I saw in Twilight town, jumped toward me. I twisted around, blasting it with an Ecto-ray and bending into a fighting stance, a silent sigh escaping me. My day was, for some reason, never right without an attack of some kind.  
Then the assault began. Heartless jumped this way and that, and I was lost in the confusion of this disorganized battle. My stress rising, I curled up, surrounding myself with an orb of ecto-energy, building it up before letting it explode, blasting backwards everything around me.

I opened my eyes to see little black, but rapidly dissolving, clouds of mist. Mendirax and Naxan stood behind a light purple, hexagon-patterned force field, and they looked lightly shocked. I turned away, looking at the floor.

"Sorry." I hadn't meant to do what I had done, It had been a reflex of my stressed, confused and overwhelmed mind.

"That's perfectly alright Danny." Naxan said. She looked, not angry, but pleased, as if the entire thing had been set up. Her slight smile reminded me strongly of Clockworks. She turned around again, once more walking forward while motioning for us to follow.

It took only a few minutes more of walking, and I found myself in a room that had a large round table in its center. Sitting at it were two people. They both had spikey hair, though ones was slicked backward and was red, while the others was brownish orange, and aimed upward. Red-hair got up first.

"Naxan, you're back! And you brought some freinds." Brown-orange hair was next.

"HeythereI'm NexidalWelcometoOrganizationThirteen!" He said, far too fast for me to understand. Red-hair sighed, smileing while rubbing the bridge of his nose. He then walked up to me, smiling apollogeticly.

"Sorry about him. He gets like that sometimes. His names Nexidal. N-E-X, I-D-A-L." I looked at red-hair. Why had he gone so far as to spell the other mans name, and not told me his own?

"Who are _you_?" I asked. Red-hair chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck

"Oops. Forgort about that. I'm Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized, kid?"

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Yep, Axels Back! Well, really, considering he's just been introduced in this story, He's not 'back'. But! His revival will be explained!!

Anywho, hope y'all liked Chapter two of Crossing from the light!

Yena


	3. A failed attempt

**Disclaimer:** Dp © BH, Kh © SE

Mendirax belongs to me, though he _was_ modeled after Darkside. So to do the keyblades; Destinys Balance and Shadows Corruption. Daxot is the Nobody of Toad, and Toad belongs to marvel, but Nexidal, Erradexn and Naxan where made by me and my sister, so, do belong to me. Axel belongs to SE.

**Authors notes:**

Chapter Three of Crossing from the Light, written for your reading pleasure!

And don't worry! You'll get Sora soon enough. Just gotta get Dannys stuff outta the way first! And the words Nexidal says are all capitalized for easier reading.

Older sister's secret note: Don't worry! I'll keep her on this until it's finished! Promise you, fellow readers!

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I quickly realized that fights and betrayal broke out often in the organization. Axel had told me that, in the first organization, there were some traitors, and it was difficult to get along. In the end, he said, the entire organization was destroyed.

I was sitting in the main room, where I had first met Axel and Nexidal. I'd explore later, when I was more familiar with the organization.

"Then how do you know all this?" I asked him. Honestly, if they were all destroyed, how could he have known about it? Axel smiled.

"Tale for another time. Say whats your name?" I sighed, putting my head in my hands. Axel laughed, clapping a hand on my shoulder.

"Come on. Naxan said you were a good fighter. Said you took down fifteen heartless in one shot." I turned to look at Axel. He knew about that? I turned away from him when I felt my cheeks burn a little. Obviously, nothing stayed secret for long in this place.

Through a window in a door, I could see Nexidal talking with Naxan.  
Someone with long blue hair that reached midway down his back walked into view, and started speaking to Nexidal while pointing a finger at him. I got up, curious at who this new man was. I could feel Axel staring at me, and I heard him get up, following me to the door.

"Thats Erradexn. E-R-R-A, D-E-X-N. He'd be pretty powerful if he didn't have that temper of his." I half ignored Axel, and moved away from the door, watching as the three walked into the room.

"You_ know _what she's gonna do, Nexidal. She's not gonna stand for this. And neither will I." The blue-haired man, Erradexn, grabbed Nexidals shoulder, turning him around to face him. Nexidal pushed the older man away, looking angry.

"YouTouchMeAgainAndYou'llRegretIt!" Erradexn grinned, moving into a fighting stance.

"You want to fight, little man? Bring it on!" I turned from the arguing men to look up into the rafters. My ears, trained almost expertly from the many fights with ghosts and Valerie, had detected something up there. Moving slowly and silently. I knew from how I heard them that it had been what they sat on that gave him or her away. Otherwise, I wouldn't have known they where there.  
A cloaked figure was visible moving on the silver slabs of beam toward the arguing pair. I watched as he jumped down, landing expertly between the men. I was surprised to hear what sounded like a british accent in his voice.

"Oi! Quit i' you two! we go' more impor'ant things t'do than argue!" I could hear Nexidal and Erradexn mumble apologys to the man. He turned toward me and I could see that, underneath his hood, he had green hair and yellowish-green tinted skin.

"Like this... Who's this young gent? This the keyblade character you were talkin' 'bout earlier?" I flinched slightly as Axel clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"Yep. Kids powerful, too. Took down fifteen heartless in one attack! I don't think Sora even managed that." Naxan said. I grimaced slightly at the mention of Sora. I had managed to get Sora out of my mind. Now I would be dwelling on my actions until I managed it again. I shook Axels hand off my shoulder and walked out the door that Nexidal, Erradexn, and Naxan had entered through. I could hear someone, the british man, I guessed, speak.

"Wot's 'is problem?"

I continued walking until I found myself outside once more. I was on a sort of balcony, except it was angled downward slightly in a rounded fasion. I walked toward the edge and looked down at the city below, now almost desperate to see Sora. I narrowed my eyes and straightned myself, almost crying out in delight as a silvery-blue ring appeared around my waist, splitting into two and moving the length of my body. When it dissappeared my hair was no longer black but a vivid white, my eyes a neon lime-green. My pants and red-and-white shirt were now a black and white Hazmat suit adorned with the 'DP' symbol that Sam had made for me long ago.  
I jumped into the air, my destination already in mind. I was about to leave when a familiar voice echoed behind me.

"Balance? Where do you think you are going, hmm?" It was Mendirax. I flinched, not wanting to turn around.

"I'm going to see Sora. I want to know how he's doing."

"He is fine, I promise." I turned, and stared at the dark teal creature.

"How do you know?" I stared at Mendirax, my eyes widening as the corners of his mouth twitched. "What did you do to Sora?!" I yelled, charging up my hands with ectobeams. If he had hurt Sora, I'd probably never forgive him. I leaned into a fighting stance as a shadowy aura began misting around Mendirax.

"You are not to leave." He said quietly. I growled slightly, and I could feel the ectobeams gathered in my hands turning whiter with every passing second. I started breathing deeply, but quietly at the same time. I couldn't lose my temper.

"Maybe it would be best if I.. '_Got rid'_ of Sora for you... Would you like that Balance?" It was then that I lost it. It was a bad reason to attack him, I knew, but Mendirax was about to _kill_ one of the few friends I had in this place.  
I whipped my arms up, aiming my hands at the thing in front of me, and watched with pleasure as my semi-white ecto-beams shot towards him, hitting him square in the chest. Mendirax doubled over, holding the burning wound, and growling lightly. I was about to turn and fly away, when almost two and half dozen heartless phazed up through the ground and jumped toward me. I rapidly shot each of them with concentrated ectobeams, smiling as I did so. All those weeks of training with my friends, both ghost and human alike, where paying off, namely in my reflexes. I watched as Mendirax stood up, still clutching at his wound.

"You will pay for that, traitor. I was hoping that with your memory gone, I could talk you into rejoining us... It almost worked... If you had not met Sora..." He trailed off, then looked up at me and roared. I flinched, closing my eyes and coving my ears, not expecting its volume. When I opened my eyes again, I saw Mendirax charging up a large ball of what seemed to be shadows. Out of reflex, I raised an ecto-sheild, laced with ice, blocking the attack and rebounding it back to its sender. Mendirax gasped, and smashed against the silvery-grey wall, just as many black-cloaked adults rushed outside, obviously drawn to us by the noise. The currently nameless british man spoke first.

"Wot's goin' on 'ere?!" he yelled. I looked from Mendirax to the group. I couldn't think of anything that would get me out of this one. But even if I wanted to speak, Mendirax would've cut me off.

"Daxot, Balance is trying to escape and get to Sora." I grimaced, noticing that Erradexn and Nexidal weren't there.  
I charged up my hands with ectobeams, And shot them towards British man, Daxot , who much to my surprise, jumped upwards and spat an odd green goo at me. It hit my right hand, and I quickly found that it seemed to be both unbrakeable and surpressing my ghost powers from that arm. I was about to shoot at him with another beam, from my working arm when he covered that hand too, with the strange substance. I gulped. Without my powers, I was pretty much helpless, especially against people like this Daxot man.

"Hey!" yelled a voice from the doorway. Everyone turned to see who it was, myself included.

"Nexidal?" I heard Naxan say.

"HoldOnASec. ThisFightIsTotallyUnfair. AsLoyalAsIAmToTheOrganization, IHaveToSay, ICantLetYouDoThisToDanny." I raised an eyebrow, as I had barely understood the man. But when he stood in front of me, and summoned fireballs into his hands, I decided that I wouldn't argue with him. However, when Erradexn raised a hand and Nexidal was moved out from in front of me, probably telekineticly, I figured I was done for.

Suddenly, pain shot though the back of my head, and the last thing I heard before blacking out was a young male voice speaking.

_'Save your energy, Kid.'_


	4. The strange boy

**Disclaimer:** Dp © BH, Kh © SE

**Authors notes:** I'm totally sorry if anyone is out of character. I haven't played Kingdom hearts in a while, cause I'm preparing to move to Newfoundland...

Older Sister's secret message: Yenattrib has terrible grammar! Terrible I tell you! I shall strive to right this injustice to the English language!  
so ... many ... commas ...

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I had woken up with a cold rag over my face -or maybe just my eyes, I couldn't see either way- and a throbbing pain in the back of my head. What had happened?

"Wait a second... Erradexn... Did he-" But before I could finish the same male voice I had heard prior to me being knocked out spoke up.

"Erradexn didn't do anything. Yes, he has telekinesis, but it wasn't him. I was the one who knocked you out. It was easyer to get you here that way." I started to get up but soon felt a hand on my chest pushing me back down. Considering I still was unable to see I raised my hand to my face and pulled the rag off, standing up and charging my hands with ectobeams when I saw the male was shrouded in one of the organizations cloaks. The male raised his hands his hands up, indicating he meant no harm, but I didn't belive him so I kept the ectobeams charged and ready.

"Listen, kid... I'm not with the Organization, ok? I'm not even from around here. I got stranded here a long time ago. Me and my friends were traveling in our ship and it broke down on us. We all got sent to different worlds. I'm still looking for a way off this place." He said to me.

"Then why do you wear that cloak?" I demanded of him accusingly, falling into my battle stance. The male didn't move but spoke up again.

"It helps fool the Heartless. They side with whoevers most powerful but the person has to be sided with darkness. I'm not with the darkness... anymore anyway, so I have to stay hidden among the organization." I narrowed my eyes when a few locks of silver hair fell into view.

"Do you... Do you know a Sora?" I asked, hoping that he was an ally. I detected power flowing through him, almost the same type of power I had sensed in Sora when I first had met him.

"Sora? You know him? Where is he, is he alright? What about Kairi?" I relaxed my body and let my charged ectobeams fade away as the male began to fling questions at me about people I didn't know. A 'King', 'Donald', 'Goofy', 'Cid', 'Yuffie', 'Aerith'... He also seemed to think I was _sent_ by this 'King'. I quickly cut him off.

"Listen, I don't know any Kairi... Or anyone else you mentioned for that matter... All I know is that the last time I saw Sora was in Twilight town. He was fine, but I think Mendirax might have done something to him." I turned to the male who was standing completely still with his arms at his sides. He was obviously close to Sora. Probably a longtime childhood friend, like Tucker, Sam and myself.

"That Heartless... I'm gonna kill him." He turned to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. "We have to get to Twilight town as soon as possible. Do you remember how you got here?" I looked him up and down before responding.

"Mendirax teleported me here. Why?" The male sighed angrely, before sitting down on the bed I had apparantly been laying on prior to me getting up.

"Theres no way out of this place unless you are teleported off via those dark portals, or unless you use a gummi ship." I decided not to ask about what a 'Gummi ship' was, only knowing that I didn't have one. Both of us sat still and silent, until I turned to the male, a question in my head.

"What's your name?" The male looked at me, and I could almost _feel _him smileing.

"What's yours?" I smiled back at him, something about him forcing me to almost immediatly develop a fondness for him. He simply seemed... Likeable.

"I'm Danny." I raised my hand toward him, awaiting a handshake from him.

"Ri-" He took my hand shaking it, but paused mid-word. He groaned softly and fearfully, before finishing, only he spoke a different name than the one he had started.

"I'm... Llexam." He leaned toward me, And I saw a flash of eyes colored a shade of aquamarine. "I can't be here much longer. I'm sure the organization is on to me. Don't tell anyone about me, ok Danny?" I nodded, watching as he smiled before turning and walking down a dark hallway, Llexam himself almost seeming to fade into its blackness.  
I continued to stare down the hallway, quietly wondering where it lead to, almost about to get up and follow my new friend down it. I stood up, and to anyone who might have been watching, I started toward it with an almost trance-like look on my face. Truthfully, however, I simply wanted to know where the hall went, and how it had gotten there, as it hadn't been there a little while ago.

"Danny!" I turned away from the hallway to see Naxan, her brown hair and golden-green eyes covered by her cloaks hood. I narrowed my eyes at the sight of her. "How'd you get here? Someone in the castle must be trying to get you out. Anyway, I need you to follow me. Daxot and Erradexn Want to... _Talk_ with you." I saw her smirk, and knew to expect the worst.  
Naxan walked down the brightly lit silver hallway, and I started to follow before turning back to where the other hallway had been.

It was gone. I raised an eyebrow, wondering if Llexam had been real. Naxan called out to me, telling me to hurry up. I looked at Naxan, and took one last glance at the dead-end room before running to catch up with Naxan. I didn't want to get the Organization any more angrey then they already were, but little did I know, it wouldn't matter what I did back on the balconey.I would later realise that I was in for the ride of my life, and nobody would care if I didn't want to go on it, because a dear friends life would rest on whether I cooperated or not.


	5. Threatened

**Disclaimer:** Dp © BH, Kh © SE

**Authors notes:** I'm sorry about the state of the previous chapter. I wrote it in a hurry, and I hope I'll get a revised version up soon. Anywho, you guys are lucky you're getting these chapters so quickly. Inspiration for this story hits hard and fast, and doesn't dissappear easily, so more often the not, I'll end up writing another chapter directly after posting the one before it. I just wait a bit before posting the newest chapters. Builds up dramatic tension, y'know?

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I had realized all too late that the Organization had ways of keeping members. Not generally ways you'd appreciatte, either. Blackmail, Mind Control, Erasing memorys, Turning the person into a heartless and taking their nobody, Threatening to hurt loved ones. I was the lucky winner of 'way number five'.

Naxan had led me into a new room, one that was almost pure white, making it impossible to discern the floor from the walls. I hoped that it was a big room, so I wouldn't walk into any walls. If there _were_ any walls.  
In what was probably the center, a small table sat, nearly empty save for an unlit candle and a tiny potted plant with purple-ish red blossoms. Two cloaked people stood behind the table.

Daxot and Erradexn. I could see that Daxot had a smile on his face, and appeared to be waiting for something, and Erradexn looked like he couldn't wait to speak, but he also looked slightly angry.

Naxan stopped walking at the door, and turned to me, as I had stopped walking when she did. She grabbed my shoulders and began pushing me toward the two cloaked men, giving one final shove that caused me to stumble forward, grabbing the table to keep myself from falling over.

Erradexn walked halfway around the table, and motioned at Daxot, who looked like he was prepareing to do something.

"Balance. _Daniel_. I have heard tell that you do not wish to stay with us any longer. That's true, is it not?" I shivered, lightly wrapping my arms around my waist and looking at my silvery-white hazmat boots while responding.

"Yes. I want to see Sora, make sure he's alright." The blue-haired man chuckled, and continued speaking.

"I can assure you, Sora is fine. _She_, however, will _not_ be if you choose to turn on us." I looked up, immediatly concerned about who 'she' was. Erradexn motioned behind himself, his arm aimed toward Daxot, as the powerful man opened up a dark portal. I took a step forward, but Erradexn raised his other hand, creating a force-field seperating me from him and Daxot. I looked at the door behind me, seeing a flash that indicated a force-field was there, too. Turning back to Daxot, I watched as Axel came through the portal, holding a girl.  
My blood ran cold when I saw who she was.

"S...Sam?" I muttered. Axel had one of his arms around her neck, and Sam was supporting herself by clutching his arm to keep herself up. Axels other arm was around her waist, obviously trying to help support the girl, but in a way that he could seriously injure her at a moments notice. Any respect and liking I had towards the red-haired pyrotechnic was gone.

I fell into my traditional battle stance, my hands automaticly charging themselves up with ectoplasm, and I yelled out to the three men.

"You let Sam go!" Axel chuckled, and looked apollogeticly at me.

"Sorry. I didn't want it to come to this, either, but it's my job. Villans gotta do what a villans gotta do, right?" I growled, and looked at Sam. She didn't look like she was in any pain, just wanting to be put down.

Erradexn spoke up first, voicing what would probably be the question Sams life rested on.

"So, have you changed your mind about staying with us?" I looked at the floor, mainly to hide the few tears that where rolling down my face.

"..."

"Daniel?"

I looked further away, hiding my eyes that were likely blazing with anger, and let the ectoplasm surrounding my hands fade away.

"Fine. Just... Just don't hurt her..." I said, hating how defeated I sounded, and probably looked. Axel spoke next.

"Y'know, so long as you stay with us, Your friend'll be fine. I'll keep her well cared for." I looked up when I heard Sam choke out a sentance.

"D-don't... do it, D-danny. Esc-cape and... c-come back f... for me... l-later!" I stared at Sam, pity probably flooding my eyes.

"I... I can't, Sam. I can't risk it..."

Sadness, joy and a mix of other emotions flashed through her eyes. I stepped backward, falling into a kneeling position and waiting for whatever was going to happen to pass quickly. I clenched my teeth, a look of fury making its way onto my face, and I willed ectoplasm into my hands once more. I could feel everyone tensing up. They knew how dangerous I could get, and they obviously weren't expecting me to attack them. I wasn't, however, going to even touch them. I pounded my ectoplasmicly charged fists on the white floor, and it began to crack, slowly revealing something that was pitch black. I pressed my palms against the cracked, black stained section of floor, wishing desperately for the blue-black under-floor to, somehow, make everything just stop. I groaned lightly in hidden joy when a familiar and friendly voice echoed softly through my head.

_'You did the right thing, Danny. You did the right thing. Meet me back in Hidden fate, the room we first met in, when you get some time alone. ' _

I responded to Llexam, in a tone so soft that nobody would've been able to hear it.

"They have her... They have... Sam... My Sam..." I could feel Llexam smiling comfortingly.

_'Y'know, if it were Sora they were doing this to instead of you, he would've done the exact same thing, except to save Kairi. Don't worry about it. Hey, maybe something good'll happen that'll turn everything around.' _

I watched as all the men turned and walked through the still open portal, leaving me alone with Naxan.  
Naxan walked up to me, hoisting me up by my armpits, then grabbing my arm and pulling me along, back to the main room. I sighed, wishing that my 'time alone' would come quicker, for the organization didn't leave me much alone time before, and they certainly wouldn't trust me with any now.


	6. Title pending

**Disclaimer:** Dp © BH, Kh © SE

**Authors notes:** I grant you all an extra-long chapter due to your good behavior. And due to the plot bunni that has been plaging me for some time now.

Ok, to be honest with all of you guys, I have _no clue_ where this story is going, the plot is still barely formed, so theres a good chance this story will have no end, and be randomly abandoned after a good entry of way too many chapters.

Augh... Don't ask me how Mr. 'Llexam' is able to 'mind-speak' with Danny. Thats explained later...

Oh! and Dannys usually in human form, unless stated otherwise.

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I had discovered that Sam was being kept in a cell near the organizations quarters. _My_ quarters, unfortunately, were located on the other side of the castle. I had decided to visit her whenever I could, but at the moment, that wasn't important. What my mind seemed to deem the current mission was getting to Lexams place, Hidden Fate. I didn't know why. Perhaps it was the brave, determined, yet scared and worried aura he gave off.

I was currently invisible, running down a hallway called Fear To Freedom. I agreed with my consious in saying that the name was strange, but my mind told me that this was the way I needed to go. Why, I didn't know. Lots of things where popping into my mind that I hadn't thought I'd known. Such as the computer room located somewhere down this particular hall, and that because of the way Nexidal was raised, his mind was based on a strict, honor-like code, which was why he had defended me a while back.

A quiet beeping pulled me out of my thoughts, and I looked around to find a door was located not too far away from me. It was open slightly, and I could see the blue-ish silver glow of computer screens inside. I walked up to it, carefully opening the door and going in. To anyone else, it would look like the door had opened further on its own accord.  
Most of the computers where already doing something, numbers, letters and various other things flashing across their screens. However, one terminal was sitting, open to a set of files apparantly designated to information about the Keyblade, of which I myself knew very little. One of the files was named 'Keyblade Manif. - 1.2.3' Curiosity getting the better of me, I took hold of the mouse, clicking on the oddly named file. A word-style document opened up on the screen, and I wasn't surprised to see little information. But what _was_ on it caused me to stare at it in light shock.

_'Keyblades, If in a desperate situation of a certain degree, such as the inability to find a worthy weilder, can give up their current form to gain that of a living organism. It is very rare that a Keyblade is forced to do this.  
However, the blade has no control over how old or how young its new form will be, and if it is too young, it will forget its previous Keyblade status. If it doesn't remember what it was, or if its powers do not re-activate, it will die in its current form, never to return to its former Keyblade status._

_--------_

_-Destinys Balance: Keyblade that came into existance due to the inbalance of dark and light.  
Status: Human, unaware of previous Keyblade origins.  
Current Location: Castle That Never Was (Captured)  
Other Data: -Appears to have reformed, is on the side of light.  
-Has developed dislike for Org. XIII.  
-Current identity is Daniel Fenton._

_---_

_Shadows Corruption: Keyblade born from overflow of darkness.  
Status: Unknown. Possibly human.  
Current Location: Earth(?)  
Other Data: -Most likely unaware of Keyblade origins.  
-Powers likely dormant._

_---_

_Lights Guidance: Keyblade created from kindness and the will to guide and protect the lost.  
Status: Unknown  
Current Location: Unknown  
Other Data: -Probably fallen into the nether-realm.  
-Retreival unlikely. Search providing no results. Computers continuing to search for data.'_

'Destinys balance: current identity is Daniel Fenton' The words flowed through my mind, but I refused to beleive it. Mendirax had told me something very similar, that a Keyblade called Destinys balance had taken the form of a human when its weilder died, and the human had been myself. It had turned into a newborn named Danny Fenton. Did my mother know? Were my ghost powers simply my reawakening powers from my Keyblade self? Did the ghost portal simply trigger my sleeping past life?  
Returning visible, I collapsed onto my knees, not believeing the words.

"Daniel?" I looked up at hearing the familiar voice that could've caused a smile to split my face if I hadn't been so preoccupied with what was really real anymore. It was Clockwork, holding something small in his fist and looking down at me. I could tell that he was niether happy nor sad, but seemed to like our reunion after such a long time of no contact. He spoke again.

"Daniel, I am glad to finally have located you." I smiled as an idea flitted into my mind. Clockwork was the Master of Time, wasn't he? That meant he could either teleport me out of here, or turn back time so that I could deny Mendirax's offer. However, Clockwork interrutped me before I could even voice my idea.

"It won't work." I frowned, no longer surprised by the Time Masters ability to mind-read. Or, time-read, rather. "I am not able nor allowed to meddle in the timestreams of different worlds. I am the Time Master of Earth, not the Non-world. I came only to give you something that may help greatly in your predicament." He held out his empty hand, helping me up. Once again I looked at what appeared to be the end of a tiny chain dangling out of his closed fist. Clockwork seemed to notice my motion, and smiled, speaking up once again.

"I see you have already noticed it." He raised his fist, opening it up to reveal what appeared to be a marble-sized yellow bead that gleamed with a strange, odd light that filled me with a sense of security. I stared at a small silver thing that orbited around the bead. Whatever it was, it seemed to only amplify the secure feeling that the yellow bead radiated. Clockwork held the keychain up, handing it to me. I blinked.

"This is it? This tiny bead?" I took it, raising an eyebrow when Clockwork chuckled.

"It is more that just a _bead_, Daniel. But what it truely is, I won't tell you. That is something you must discover yourself. I must be off." I looked at the bead as the Time Master turned around. I was unsure of whether I should abandon it, or keep it safely with me at all times. Clockwork turned again, narrowing his eyes and floating closer to me.

"Do _not_ lose it, Daniel. It is much more important than you realise. Your fate may just rest on Light or its keychain." I looked back down at the small yellow bead, curious of how it could hold such importance. 'Wait a second...' I thought, something triggering in my mind.

"Hey Clockwork-!" I started, looking up only to see that the older man was gone. He had said that my fate rested on Light, or the tiny bead that was now laying in my hands. _Light_ also happened to be a keyblade, called Lights Guidance. It's location was also unknown. But what had happened to the blade itself...?

'_Danny... Where are you?'_ I jumped up, remembering that I had been going to Hidden fate. I turned myself invisible once again, shoving the bead into my pocket, bolting out out of the door and down another hallway, then down a staircase into the familiar room that was Hidden fate. I looked down at my pocket, and at what I knew was the Lights Guidance keychain.

"It's about time you got here. Did you get lost?" I looked up to see the cloaked boy that was Llexam.

"N-no, I didn't get lost... I came across a computer room... It had information on... Some keyblades." The small yellow bead was what my mind was set on at the moment. I hoped Llexam didn't notice my distraction.

He did.

"What's wrong? Is something on your mind, Danny?" I looked at his hooded face. I couldn't tell him about Lights Guidance. I couldn't tell anyone. That meant... I couldn't trust anyone, could I?

"No.. Just thinking. What was it you wanted me for?" That seemed to get my worrys off his mind, as he straightened up, speaking.

"Thats right! I wanted to show you something. Follow me, Danny." Llexam turned around, walking up a stairwell that had appeared in the wall. I stared. Not in shock, but in surprise. Hadn't that been a hallway before? Dispite my wonder in what this room really was, and if its appearing and dissapearing halls and stairs was how it had gotten it's name, I ran forward to catch up with the teen that appeared the same age as me, save for a few years difference.

"I want to show you how I can talk with you when I'm not around." I blinked in confusion. I had just assumed he was telepathic. Llexam turned to one side of the hall, tracing an 'X', with his finger, on the empty wall. I watched with intrest as a door adorned with a large 'X' phased onto the wall. Llexam then traced a circle where the doorknob would have been, said object then appearing on the door. Llexam took hold of it, opening the door to reveal a room the looked like it had wires imbedded onto the walls. He led me into the center, placing his right hand on my shoulder.

"Two to Thirteenth Crossing." I shut my eyes tightly as a bright light flashed, nearly blinding me. After a few seconds, however, I felt Llexam's hand release my shoulder.

"You can open your eyes." He said. I noticed that his voice contained a roughly hidden humour. Opening my eyes, I glared at him, frowning as he chuckled.

"Well pardon me for not wanting to go blind Mr. I-can't-tell-you-my-real-name!" I yelled at him, recieving a look that seemed to be a mixture of surprise and light shock. It seemed like he hadn't expected me to yell at him about the fact that he was using a fake name with me. I soon adorned the same look he had. I didn't mean to yell at him. Maybe I had just been frustrated and angry about the fact that my whole life was basicly a lie.

"Sorry 'bout that..." I muttered, finally looking around the room. At one end of the room, to my absolute shock, was most of organization XIII. I stood completely still, hopeing they hadn't noticed me or Llexam. I also noted that the twelve of them stood around a large hovering ball of silvery-black mist.

"They can't see us." Llexam said, matter-of-factly. "Hidden Fate renders the people it teleports completely undetectable. Rather, unhearable, unless you're touching the person, and invisible. You're also granted intangibility. That's was how I was able to knock you out and teleport you. Actually, you where teleported courtasy of Hidden Fate itself. It knew I had to get you out of there, and that I couldn't make a portal myself. It's pretty unique that way." I looked up at Llexam, surprised that he knew all that about the odd little room. He looked down at me, and spoke again

"Now be quiet. I want you to hear this." He motioned toward the group of twelve, and I listened intently as their voices grew louder.

_"But are you sure we can trust Axel? He wasn't exactly loyal to you last time."_

_"Yes, my commander, how can you be sure that he will not betray you this time as well?"_

_"I _cannot_ be sure. But so long as Axel is not reunited with Sora, his mind will not wander to the idea of betrayal."_

_"And what about Balance? He could have all his memories, and simply be pretending to know nothing."_

_"Harintex! Don't bring up theorys like that! You know better than all of us that in order for everything to work, Balance can't remember!"_

_"And _you_ know, Stanzix, that we must consider every possibility!"_

_Harintex! Stanzix! Be quiet! ...Naxan, explain to them what is going to be done with the boy."_

_"If Danny trys to escape again, lock him up. Show him no mercy, but keep him alive."_

_"Naxan... Earlyer you told me that you found Balance in Hidden Fate. Is this true?"_

_"Yes my commander. We believe that there is someone in the castle trying to get Danny out."_

_"Hmmm... Can you locate this person?"_

_"Unfortunately, no. He appears to be using Hidden Fate to move about the castle. And as you know, only one with good intentions can open the way into that place."_

_"...Have you located Corruption or Guidance yet? I am getting tired of waiting."_

_"Not yet, my commander. We do beleive that Corruption is located on earth. Maybe Danny knows where it is?"_

_"Perhaps. Go question Balance. If the boy refuses to cooperate, you know what to do._

_"And if Sora appears in the city?"_

_"You will send a group to exterminate him. Just as with Balance, show no mercy."_

I stared as the twelve hooded people dispersed, each going into a portal that had appeared behind them. I looked over at Llexam as he spoke quickly, distress evidant in his voice.

"You need to get back to your quarters, quick. If they find out you're not there... And Danny, I won't be able to talk with you anymore. It'll give me away." I looked to the left as a portal, silvery grey and bearing a strong resemblance to the dark portals I had seen, opened up. A voice emanating from all around me urged me to go inside so, ignoring Llexams protests, I bolted forward into the portal only to slip away into the black pit of uncontiousness.

0o0o0o0

_-Unknown POV-_

**'And you're sure he is the right one? I've know the boy nearly his entire life, and he's never shown powers of the sort you've mentioned.'**

_'Yes... He holds a keyblades light, as do you, my friend. You are one as well. However, it is up to you, the path you choose. I cannot choose for you... I can barely hold this form...'_

**'If you're weak, then why do you insist on speaking with me?'**

_'Because both you and him are in danger. The organization wants to use you to their own destructive ends...'_

**'And they also show signs of power, my mysterious friend. I think I will examine them further.'**

_'Well... I suggest you do it from the side of light... Light always prevails.'_

**'Yes, Light always prevails... But Darkness has more fun!'**

_'Corruption?! No! Stay away from the dark!'_

**'I'm sorry, but I'm not what you'd call a 'hero'. My true place is among the _villans_ side of the world.'**

0o0o0o0

_'Come on... Wake up little one. Being asleep is not a very good idea right about now...'_

_---_

I woke up to the sound of my door opening. Apparantly I had been facing the wall when the portal teleported me back to my room.

'Why did it make me unconcious, though?' I thought, only to be responded to by the soft voice that I had heard in my sleep.

_'It was the only way to rid you of any stress signs. It would have given you away otherwise.' _

"Danny! I want to ask you some questions." I sat up, unhappy about what I knew Naxan would attempt to dig into, but I cooperated nonetheless. Afterall, I couldn't risk hurting Sam. I wouldn't let it happen.

"What do you know about the keyblades?" She asked. Ok, it was simple so far. Just answer as best you can, Danny.

"Not much. I know Sora uses one." I lied. Yes, Sora did use a keyblade, but I wasn't about to tell them that that was just one of alot more facts I knew.

"Hmm... Do you know anything of the Keyblades; Lights Guidance, Shadows corruption, or Destinys balance?"

"No. I remember you all telling me that _I_ was Balance. I know what Mendirax told me. Thats all." My mind flickered to the small bead that made my pocket its home. I quickly hoped she couldn't read minds. Otherwise, Light would be doomed.

"...Are you familiar with a person named... R-" She was quickly cut off by a man with black hair tied up in a ponytail wielding what appeared to be a Treble-clef styled blade.

"Naxan! It Sora, he's in the city! I swear, you've gotta have precognitave ablilitys!"

"Arg! Take Danny and a group of Nobodies down to the city, and make sure that Axel doesn't find out about this! You didn't tell him, right?"

"Um... oops."

"Oops?!"

"I forgot, all right!"

I turned from person to person, wondering how long they would go on like this. After a little bit of arguing, I discovered the other mans name was Stanzix, and he apparantly had powers akin to some Demyx persons.

"Fine! ok! Punish me later!" I flinched as Stanzix grabbed my arm, pulling me into a dark portal. However, it felt very much different from the other portals I had gone through. Like I was being pulled in two different directions at once. I felt someone grab my left arm, and thinking it was Stanzix, I began to struggle. I didn't care what trouuble it got me into. Pain was staring to spread though my body. Soon, I couldn't fight any longer, only having the energy to keep myself concious. The dual portal feeling vanished, and as I began to slip into a pit of black, a strength penetrated what felt like my entire being. Axel soon came into view.

"Good! I thought that doing that would've split you in half!" I looked at what was around me, noticing I was in a large clearing, and a strange skyscraper was overlooking us. Axel whipped around as a familiar teen voice vibrated through the air.

"Axel!? I thought... I thought you where dead?!" Sora summoned his Keyblade, and I could tell he was teetering between being overjoyed at seeing Axel, and attacking him. I, however, was torn between telling him to run, or running to him and telling him one of his freinds was ok.

"Where theres a will, theres a resurrection. And you said you'd destroy Xemnas! Liar, liar..." Axel waved a finger in the air, causing Sora to raise an eyebrow. "Anyway, the hearts in Kingdom hearts were all released when you took it's power from Xemnas. Either I got my heart back, or our budding friendship revived me. I owe you one now, y'know." Axel smiled broadly, holding his arms out as if to hug Sora, and almost on cue, Sora stumbled forward, quickly accepting the older mans hug much to my shock. If I remembered correctly, Sora was fighting _against_ the Organization.  
I watched as Sora pulled a Keychain out of his pocket. It looked like a tiny red and white, spikey wheel.

"I kept it safe for you." Sora said, holding the item out. I was now thoroughly confused. Axel... Wielded a keyblade? Despite my confusion, I watched as Axel took the small Keychain, closing his fist around it. A light emanated from the fist that enclosed the chain, and quickly spread to his other hand. I stared in surprise as as two wheels, identical to the small one appeared in his fists.

"Ahhh... I wondered if I'd get my Chakrams back. Thanks Sora."

"Aww... What a cute little reunion." I turned around, groaning as Stanzix, aloong with several other cloaked men, stepped out of the shadows. "I'm sorry, but I'm gonna have to cut it short. Think I'll have to cut _you_ short as well."

Behind me, Sora groaned.

"Aww, man... Axel, did you coming back _have_ to mean I'd fight these guys again?" Both he and Axel readyed themselves for attack.

"Sorry. I guess an Organization Thirteen just _has_ to exist..." I fell into my battle stance, transforming into my ghost form.

"Does everything I do _have_ to threaten my life?"

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Some CftL trivia: The name 'Llexam' is actually the Computer Disk brand 'Maxell' spelt backwards.

-------

Known CftL Org XIII Members::

-Naxan  
-Daxot //  
-Nexidal  
-Erradexn  
-Harintex  
-Stanzix  
-Axel (Property of Squ/Enix)

// - Means that this Character is a re-model of a copyrighted character


	7. Discussions of the Mind

**Disclaimer:** DP © BH, KH © Sq/Enix

**Authors notes:** Finally, the next chapter of CftL. I'm sorry it took so long to get up, my computer access is kinda limited. I'm trying to find a way around my Computer-Nazi mother so I can type these chapters up and gain some sort of regular updating schedule thingy.

On another note, this is the final of probably three or four versions for this chapter. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to write a plot through an effective fight scene. So eventually, the fight was nixed, as you'll soon see. Or at least most of it was. I wanted desperately for Danny to get pummeled. Only his end of the fight was nixed. ;)

Anywhoo, enough with my chatter and on with chapter 7 of CftL!

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-Clockworks POV-

"There are far too many dangerous outcomes for what you've done!"

"It would've been safer here!"

I sighed as the two observers continued to drone on about all the horrible things that could arise from the simple act of giving Danny the keychain of Lights Guidance. I already knew about what they where telling me, but they continued attempting to, as the saying goes; 'Drive me into an early grave.' Fortunately for them, I was already dead, and they could keep this up for hours. Days, even. And considering they weren't effected by my powers over Time, I had no way to stop them.  
I continued to rub my temples, taking care to avoid the scar that ran down the left side of my face. For some strange reason, I could no longer remember how I had gained it, nor could I prevent it from shooting pain though the left side of my head whenever I applied pressure to it.

I turned around to face the observers, sighing when I discovered that they where talking rather loudly about getting a new Master of Time, and how they would go about doing such a thing.

"It would've been no safer here than it will be with Daniel." I told them. "You have nothing to worry about. He will choose the right thing to do. I'm sure he will." I was delighted when the both of them stopped talking, but soon, my delight turned to both worry and nervousness, Worry, because what I had said displayed a new lack of knowledge about what would happen to Danny, and nervousness at how this would effect the observer council, which their decisions could effect me directly, possibly stripping me bare of my timekeeper status. My face didn't display the aforementioned emotions, however.  
The observer council holding some control over my job was one of many reasons as to why I had an obvious dislike for the one-eyed specters.

"What do you mean? You are the Master of Time! You know every possibility, every outcome, and have no reason to be unsure!"

"No reason at all!" The second observer chimed. I sighed, knowing that these two would run off to their part of the Council, tell their superiors that the Time Master seemed to be losing his powers, and effectively put my entire reason for existing on hold.

"I am only the Timekeeper of Earth. Not of the Un-world, the Hollow Garden, the Islands of Fate, or any other world. And you know better than I do that tampering with the affairs of another world could have dire consequences." I told them, taking away yet another reason for them to speak.

Both observers stared at me for a few seconds, before turning to leave. One of them, however, stopped at the door and turned back to me.

"I hope you know what you're doing Clockwork." He said. I turned away from him to look at the time portal, a subtle and rather polite hint that I wanted him to leave.

The telltale sound of intangibility -To one who knows what to listen for- told me the observer had left, leaving me to myself. The scene playing itself out on the portal stopped on an image of Danny, and a sigh escaped me.

"So do I..."

0o0o0o0

-Danny's POV-

I had expected a tough fight, -Six against three, the odds are pretty unfair, especially once you dig into the details- but what I had gotten was ridiculous. It was like fighting my toughest enemies all over again, none of which I wanted to re-encounter. Especially Pariah Dark. If It hadn't been for Vlad showing up at the last minute, I probably would've died, Pariah escaping and wreaking havoc all over the world. Undergrowth, My dark self, Vlad; with the odds we had when we first met, and a few more I couldn't remember offhand. In all fights, I had help somehow. Undergrowth had only been defeated because, by some fluke of coincidence, he had appeared just as my ice powers had decided to show themselves in the form of an arctic strength ghost cold. The defeat of my dark self, Dan, had been all me, but he would've succeeded in his goals had I not met Clockwork earlier that week. I couldn't exactly recall what had happened in my very first fight with Vlad, but I knew I had lost spectacularly. I didn't want that happening again. I had fallen unconscious after the fight. I had been completely vulnerable.

I was shocked out of my thoughts as one of the six men -Or women- surrounding me pretty much fried me with an electric blast that reminded me strongly of Vortex. Oh yeah! Vortex was one of the enemies I didn't want to re-encounter. Only defeated him because I had accidentally received some of his powers in an attack.

But I'm getting off-track. I was fighting alone, because halfway through the fight, Sora had collapsed from fatigue, and Axel had rapidly gone to help the keyblading teen, leaving me all alone in this roundabout of doom. So, while Sora was sleeping, Axel was watching him, and I was getting my butt kicked from here to Cleveland in some strange game of 'Who can deal the most damage to Mr. Phantom-Or-Balance without killing him?', which I didn't know the rules of.

Anyway, at this time, I was barely standing, and the six Org. members had formed a loose circle around me. My left arm was holding a cut in my right side, and my left eye was closed due to a cut that I knew would probably never heal properly. I might even end up blind in that eye. Joy.

"I thought you were supposed to be _tough_!" Yelled my current attacker, whos name was Harintex, though I didn't know how I knew.

Harintex began to laugh at my pain, the others quickly joining in. I, however, took the opportunity to jump up and send ectoplasm-charged ice shards at everyone. Sadly, something wouldn't let me finish them off, because black consumed my vison, and I found myself standing in a pure white room decorated by a white table and chair. A male -I think- wearing a white organization cloak sat in the small chair. I was about to ask him who he was and where was I when he raised a hand, a sign for me to keep quiet.

"_You must let them capture you._"

"Why? They're the bad guys. I'm a hero. I _fight_ bad guys. They lose, I win. Standard code of the universe." I spat at him while crossing my hazmated arms, my 14-year-old selfs snarky and oft-times cynical sence of humor resurfacing. I expected him to attack, or something close, but much to my surprise, he simply chuckled.

_"You haven't changed a bit, have you Balance... Even without your memory_..." I sighed at the male sitting in front of me. Who was he? He seemed to have known Balance, but finding people that 'keyblade' me used to know wasn't my current objective, finding and rescuing Sam was.  
I could feel the white-clad male in front of me look at me curiously. He folded his pale hands together and spoke.

"_You wish to save her, do you not_?" I knew in an instant who he was talking about. Sam_. My _Sam.

"Of course I do! I'm not going to leave here... Er, there, without her!" He cocked his head to one side.

"_Then if you let yourself get captured, it will save yourself the trouble of trying to break into their fortress."_ Well, that was obvious wasn't it. I felt stupid, and kept silent, a hint that I was listening. He seemed to have caught it, and continued to speak.

_"You need not worry. They cannot alter your memories, human or keyblade. But beyond that, I have a gift for you. Take it_." The male raised a hand toward me, and a white pouch with a highly detailed yin-yang symbol emblazoned on it appeared before me, I let it drift lazyly downward, onto a waiting palm, and put it onto my neck. Immediatly, I knew that what it held was very important to me, and that I couldn't let it fall into the wrong hands. Impulsivly, I tried opening it, only to find that it was held closed by some sort of ethereal force.

_"It will open when the time is right_." I looked from the unopenable white pouch up to the male and spoke, my goal set.

"Okay. Then sennd me back." The answer I received was not what I had anticipated.

_"You never left_." A bright light flashed in my eyes, but slowly faded to reveal the fact that I was being held by a familar, silver-haired male, Llexam. He was walking a few steps behind the other Org. members, and I knew that he had decided to risk everything to come out of hiding. His reason why, though, completely eluded me. I was about to quietly speak to him, but he seemed to know what I was going to do and looked down at me, shaking his head back and forth in a 'no' motion.

'Pretend to be asleep' He mouthed at me. I, however, didn't want to close my eyes. Who knew what would happen once I was unable to see my surroundings? I also wanted to ask him what his motif for coming out here was.

Examining his face, I could see that his aqua-colored eyes held worry and anxiety. He obviously did not like being so vulnerable. He was also in plain veiw of five other org. members, who probably would recognise him if they gained a closer look. I sighed quietly, closing my eyes in obvious defeat. I calmed myself down, but grunted as a strong force pushed my mind into the depths of unconciousness.

0o0o0o0

-Unknown POV-

"So... You gave it to him?"

_'I thought he was ready, yes.' _

I hope you are corect in your assumptions, friend. I would hate to see Daniel injured in a 'storyline' he has no part of."

'_I am sure. I have yet to be wrong.'_

"You remind me of the ghost called Clockwork."

'_You know him? Could you tell him that I apollogise for giving it to Balance early? It was no longer safe with me. He will understand.'_

"How much longer will you send your messages through me? I am not your errand boy."

'_Yes... I apollogise for that. But I cannot deliver messages myself. I am not ... Complete, I guess you could say.'_

"And... Daniel will be able to help you?"

'_Yes.'_

"If he is indeed this 'Balance' you keep talking about, how will he go about discovering the abilities you mentioned earlier?"

_'He will obtain them gradually, when he subconciously summons them. Some he can already use.' _

"You told me before that this group of people is not only after Daniel but me as well. Does this mean they will attempt to fight me?"

_'Yes, but do not retaliate. They may not seem it, but they are much more powerful than yourself. I suggest you seek out Balance, The Fire Dancer, Light-Door incarnate, and The Dark Hero in the Un-world. Balance is with The Dark hero, go to them first. Look for the single light illuminating perpetual darkness. I must leave now... Good luck Corruption.'_

"I've told you before. Call me Vlad."


	8. title pending!

**Disclaimer:** DP © BH, KH © Sq/Enix

**Authors notes:** Okay, **before you read anything**, I want to appologise for this chapter. I rushed through it and didn't give it as much effort as I did the previous ones. I ran through almost 20 differing versions of this chapter, so I forced myself to write a stable one that fit the plotline.

so, here you go. Chapter 8!

**PS:** I'm sorry it took so long to get this up. My will to write this has been sporaticly going 'poof' for the past few weeks, as the plot has been narrowing down. Help me out, okay! And I'm sorry if anyones out of character!

* * *

I knew immediatly once I gained general consciousness that I was in for something bad. There were no auras around me that felt good, only one for that matter, and it was filled to the brim with hate, dark, and evil. Worse than Dan's, if that was possible. Again I felt like I knew the person, so my feelings on what to do were mixed. Talk? Attack? Both at once? Neither? Agh... My mind hurt.

A jolt ran up my spine as a hand placed itself on my chest, right above my heart. My eyes remained closed against my will, so I continued to stare at the back of my eyelids as I instinctively turned myself intangible. The feeling of previously mentioned hand slipping somewhere into the area around my intangible stomach was not at all pleasent, but I could feel myself grinning nevertheless. Being half ghost had quite a few perks.

"Ah, that must be the reason why it was so hard for my Heartless to get a hold on you." I listened as he began to speak. What was he talking about? I had only encountered Heartless... Twice? Three times, maybe? "Every time I sent them after you, they ended up coming right back here with no idea what they where supposed to do. Perhaps now they will succeed in what I wanted them to do in the first place..."

And I needed no further information. I knew exactly what he meant.

"Hmmm... I want you to see this... Your last few moments... Whats more, those moments will be watching as your dear friend is the one to destroy you." My eyes finally opened, and the first thing I saw was Sam. Her eyes, however, were not the kind and caring lavender I had grown up looking into. They where silver, the same silver as a Dusks body. I turned to where I knew the male was standing. Something inside me told me the mans name was 'Xemnas'. He looked as if he was constantly fading away into purplish-black nothingness, and his silver hair was the only bright thing on him. I glanced back at Sam, then again at Xemnas.

"What did you do to her!?" Xemnas laughed.

"I did nothing. My Dusk did this. Her heart is one of the strangest I've ever seen. Buryed so deeply in the light, yet tied so strongly to dark. Much like Sora's. Much like your's. It was nothing hard for my Dusk to take control of her." I found myself beginning to take breaths in short and fast. It seems I'm afraid. But then, why wouldn't I be?  
I watched as Xemnas placed a hand on Sams shoulder. Looking at Sam, I noticed something in her eyes flickering, an indication that whatever the Dusk was doing wasn't going to _keep_ working for much longer. Xemnas continued speaking.

"I also found remenants of the most intriguing abilitys in the deepest part of her heart. I beleive it is... Terra, or Sero, which is 'plant' in latin, kinesis. Something along those lines, anyway." I looked back into Sams eyes. She wouldn't attack me. Not after what we had been through together. "I've helped the girl out by re-awakening and re-energising that ability. She-" But Xemnas was cut off as Sam began to thrash around, grasping at her head. A light flashed, and a Dusk appeared breifly before dissappearing. Xemnas appeared gone as well, along with most of the energy I soon discovered I didn't have in the first place. I felt Sam releasing me from whatever it had been that was holding me, and before I fell into sleeps waiting grasp, a voice -Xemnas's- echoed through my head.

"Ah, It seems I've mis-calculated you and the girls heart connection. Perhaps next time, then..."

0o0o0o0

**-About five hours later...-**

_"Danny... Danny, wake up!"_ Ugh... Who...? Sam?

_"Come on, let him sleep. I mean, he's a right menace to society, can take peoples energy now, too."_ Wait... was that...?

_"What? You don't mean Danny, right?"_

_"Of course not. Talken 'bout Xemnas. X-E-M, N-A-S. Got it memorized?" _Axel? A new voice spoke up.

_"Wait a sec, I _destroyed_ Xemnas!" _Sora? But it couldn't be... He was left stranded in Twilight town! Wait,no...Axel had taken him somewhere...

_"Not so much. You only sent him back to the Dark realm, got it? Can't kill what didn't rightly exist in the first place. Like me. Didn't die. I was only sent back to the Dark realm. Th'others, however, you _did_ destroy. Don't know why you didn't work the same tactics with Xemnas, though." _

I opened my eyes slowly to see three people standing around me. Axel, Sam, Sora... In the corner was a yellow-haired man typing furiously on a computer, next to him was a man wielding a giant sword-gun hybrid who looked like coolness incarnate, and kneeling on the top of a bookshelf not too far away was someone who looked like a sort of ninja, though I couldn't be sure. I, strangely enough, -given my line of work- never had seen too many ninjas in my life. Sitting at a table putting together some sort of drink was a compassionate-looking girl clad mainly in various shades of pink, though my hatred for the color was dampened by how well she wore it. Her brown hair and green eyes could almost have been taken straight from Naxan herself. I made a mental note to myself to make sure I could tell the two apart at a single glance. One mistake, and I might wind up killing an innocent.  
Sam turned to me first. Speaking of which, I found it odd that everyone had their backs to me. Was I no longer liked, or something?

"Danny! You're okay!" That triggered everyone to turn towards me. Well, almost everyone. The yellow-haired typer made no attempt at moving from his PC.

"Hey, good to see you're alive Danny-boy!" Axel said, Sora puching the air in over-exitement. The ninja jumped over, taking two leaps before standing in front of everyone and nearly yelling my socks off.

"Hey! You caused us a good scare, y'know! Aeriths been up for hours straight making that medicine! You'd better thank her, or you'll have Grand Ninja Yuffie to deal with!" Axel pushed the angered girl aside as the cool-incarnate man walked up to me, his voice radiating calm.

"I don't know you, but I'm happy to know you aren't injured. Sora, your female friend, and Aerith as well would give us hell if we let you die." I nodded at him.

"I can see that happening. So what's your name?...Sir." I added 'Sir' out o an odd bout of unexpected respect, and hearing some call him 'sir' must have thrown him off. He looked like he had never been called that in his life, but quickly shook it off an answered me.

"My name is Leon." I smiled as someone behind him coughed out 'Squall', making the man, Leon, turn and glare at the speaker, the ninja girl who had addressed herself as 'Yuffie'. I supposed that the girl at the table was Aerith. I _would _have to thank her. But first, I had to know something.

"How did I get here? And where am I?" Oddly, Sam spoke up first.

"You're in the town of Radiant Garden. These guys are the towns reconstruction commity." I sighed.

"And I got here..._ How_?" Sam sat down on the edge of the bed I was laying in before answering.

"It's a long story, so be prepared to be sitting for a while, but... It went like this..."

* * *

And so ends the long-awaited chapter eight. Sorry I made you wait. My intrest in this story abandoned me for a while.

The next chapter will consist of the story explaining what happened in the time between when Danny fell unconscious and when he woke up: The_ Tale of Escape_!


	9. Tale of escape and a fight badly timed

**Disclaimer:** DP © BH

KH © Sq/Enix

Vonnix © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

**Authors notes:** No notes for you!

Except for these: Yes, Sam is gaining/re-gaining powers. The same ones, in fact, from Urban Jungle. Just to spice things up a bit.

**PS:** The little story Cid tells has no relevance to the plot. Might make it into a bonus chapter once CftL is finished, though.

* * *

_"It went like this..." _

**0o0o0o0**

"Danny, I need you to phase us out of here... Danny?" Sam turned to her freed friend. He appeared, by all standards, to be unconscious. Of _course_. Every time you need a hero, they're not around. One of many superhero laws.

"Okay. You're asleep or unconscious, both of us are trapped in a doorless room, and we probably have half the Organization after us!" Sam yelled, emphasizing by waving her arms. She had failed, however, to see the cracks forming a few feet away from her and Danny. But her attention was caught as a vine -Or root- tore through the silvery floor, black being revealed.

"Woah... Not what I had expected by way of an escape route, but I'll take it." She said grinning, as the plant pulled itself backward, down through the considerably large hole in the ground. It was big enough for her to crawl through, but not big enough for her to piggy-back Danny along with her. As if answering her problem, though, the vine reappeared, smaller vines shooting off it and tearing the crawlspace into a full-fledged tunnel.

"Okay... That was handy. Thanks!" She yelled to nobody in particular, heaving Danny onto her shoulders and running through the hole that had answered her not-quite-prayer.

---

She did not expect the tunnel to end. Not end, as in she had no more need of walking through it, and she could now exit the tunnel. But end as in, just abruptly stop.

"Okay, Danny... Now would be a _really_ good time to wake up... Cause we're kinda trappped." But her unconscious friend remained as such, showing no signs that he had heard her.

"This is getting annoying... I can't and won't go back to the castle, and I'm physically unable to-" But she was cut off as a green glow overtook the area of the tunnel they where in, tiny vines drilling through the pitch-black earth and turning upwards. They did this while intertwining with each other, creating a crude yet effective ladder of sorts.

"Danny, I really hope that was you..." She said, slowly climbing up the plant-based climbing item. She had a feeling her friend had absolutely nothing to do with the botanical help they were recieving. And she hoped to god that whatever -Or whoever- she figured it to be wasn't true, and she knew it wasn't Undergrowth.

---

"Hey! You need some help, down there?" Sam's eyes widened as the familiar voice echoed down the chute-tunnel. Oh, no. It was him. The very same man who had taken her from Amity park and placed her in this hell-hole of a city. The same man who had claimed to have done the same to one 'Kairi'. Whoever that was.  
Sam hauled herself up the rest of the way, accepting the help out of the tiny chute. The peace between the two, however, was short lived as Sam immediatly punched the mans face, effectively breaking his nose. He stumbled back, yelling out in pain while clutching said broken body part.

"_That_ was for kidnapping me!" The redhaired male waved one of his hands.

"Hey, I'm on _your_ side!" Sam chuckled.

"Oh yeah? Prove it." The man, still clutching his broken nose, grinned broadly, pulling a device that looked like a two-way radio out of one of his pockets before speaking into it.

"Hey, I found 'em!" A voice that sounded like some sort of a texan, responded.

"S'about damn time, Axel! What've you been doing? Pickin' daisies an' sharen' 'em with Heartless and Dusk?" Axel sighed into the device.

"Just get over here, Cid." They must have been orbiting the planet, Sam thought, because no ship can move that fast. The colorful ship she had glanced a picture of in one of the rooms she had passed in the castle had appeared overhead, and was drifting downward as it prepared to land.

"Meet Sora's best friends." Axel said as four people walked out of the ship that looked like a child had both built it and picked out it's color scheme. "Cid, Aerith, Yuffie and Leon. Riku and Kairi have gone missing, but Sora figures they're safe on some of the neighboring worlds. Donald and Goofy are with the king, and they're busy with some royal thing. Couldn't come." The texan -Cid, he had been called- spoke up after Axel finished.

"Would yeh get in already? I don' like the Heartless, so being on their home world ain't the most pleasureable vacation getaway I can think of." Sam chuckled as Axel sighed again.

"You need to learn some patience." Sam looked at everyone in turn again. She could, as well, see a bandaged brown-haired boy asleep on a bed protruding from a wall inside the ship, and the others looked trustworthy enough. Axel was really the only one she felt wary about.

"Fine, But make sure Axel doesn't try anything. I don't trust him." Cid chuckled at Sam, picking up Danny and carrying him in his arms, leading Sam inside while the others followed.

"None of us really trust him, anyway. But Sora does, an' that's all that matters. Whoever Sora trusts usually turns out ta be a good person." Sam turned to the older man, curious.

"_Usually_?" Cid frowned. It seemed she had touched upon a delicate subject.

"You don' wanna know about those times. Was a dark day fer Sora. He weren't the same fer months. Wouldn't talk to noone, barely ate. Took threaten'en to get any sorta response from him. He took it real hard, y'know. Trusted that bast-"

"Cid!" The male called Leon innterupted.

"Trusted that _bugger_ with his life." Sam stared as Cid fell silent. What had happened? She _had_ to know now.

"What happened?" Cid glanced down at her, then at Leon, who made an odd movement at Cid.

"I don' think I should tell ya. Not my place." A serious, yet pleading look was flitting into Cids face, and Sam immediatly backed off. She knew that look.

"Okay."

"Hey, Cid! Get up here! You know I can't fly this thing!" Sam heard Axel yell.

"Don' you dare touch my ship!"

0o0o0o0

"And that's pretty much it." I stared at her. It had been that easy?  
I was about to speak up on the fact that Xemnas had reactivated her plant powers, and that was likely what she had used to escape, but the man at the computer -Cid- spoke up before I could.

"Hey, somebody get that kid over here! I wanna talk to 'im!" I looked at him, then despite everything the people around me were saying, I walked -limped, rather. It seemed I had not been treated too kindly whilst unconscious- over to him, leaning on the wall-mounted moniter for support.

"Now, it ain't that I don't appreciate the comp'ney, but you've been attractin' some mighty strange creatures. The organization don't seem to want to let you go without a fight. Lucky fer you we got a room full'o fighters of our own, and each one o'them won't go down easily. I don't mind you in my house stead'o Merlins, but try ta keep your profile low, okay? Gettin' yerself known around these parts ain't the smartest thing, got it?" I nodded. I knew better than to flaunt around while randomly telling people who I was. Two years making sure the public of Amity Park thought Phantom and Fenton were two different people made me an expert in that particular art.

"I know. Back home I had to keep a low profile for two years. I can do it again." I told him, ignoring the pain shooting up one of my legs. Cid smiled.

"Good boy. Now, I'm gonna be goin' out soon, need to fix up Sora's Gummi ship. He can fly 'er real well, but the Heartless have been bundlen' up. Attacken' him in big groups. Sora took a beating before he got away." I nodded.

Cid gained a thoughtful look before speaking again.

"Sam told me earlier that you like outer space. Now, I'm pretty sure the 'outer space' you learned about ain't like ours, but, all the same, would you like to come with me? I'll need to bring her into space to test her out once I'm done fixin' her. Make sure she works the next time Sora has to go somewhere." I stared with happiness at Cid. Of course I'd like to go with him! I wouldn't miss a chance to go into any sort of outer space for the world!

"Sure!" I said to him, limping alongside him as he led me outside.

---

We had walked a considerable way before even reaching halfway to where Cid had told me the 'Gummi ships' were located. I didn't care that it was talking a while, though. I was about to help work on a vehicle thats sole purpose was to travel in space! It was difficult to hide my enthusiasm from Cid, but I knew that he was smiling when he looked away from me. We had just entered what Cid told me was the Square when we both stopped for some reason.

'Probably never saw someone so extatic about space-travel before.' I thought, still dwelling on Cid's badly hidden smiling.. But I was broken out of my daze as he nudged me.

"Heartless!" He exclaimed. What, here? No! Not now! Not before I got to see what this places space looked like!

"Ooh, they're gonna get it _so_ bad!" I growled. Cid chuckled.

"Just take 'em out quick and quiet. The people 'round here don' react too well to Heartless." I nodded.

"Right. Just like back at home, only I had ghosts." Cid turned to me, but didn't lower his guard.

"'Ghosts'?" I chuckled at him.

"Tell you later." I said, as we both jumped into the fray of Heartless. Neither of us had too much trouble. Heck, some of the ghosts back home presented more of a challange then these little guys did. They were good training, though. Their unpredictable movement style and ability to pop up just about anywhere was good practice for my reaction time. I'd have to see if I couldn't find some time to train with Sora. He'd fought billions of these guys, plus a few of their 'older brothers', Heartless I knew I'd have not much chance against if forced to fight one.  
Soon, though, the tiny and all-too-common Heartless were gone, a muffled clapping -like one clapping through gloves- replacing their skittering noises.

"Good job, good job. Not really impressive though, compared to the records we have in the library, of Sora." Me and Cid turned to the voice. It was a male in an Org. XIII cloak leaning against a building, but I could see electric-blue eyes that seemed to be illuminated because of the contrast between them and his silvery skin. It resembled a type of metal rather then skin, but who am I to say what's skin and what isn't? I used to fight ghosts daily, and now I'm in another world fighting mosters made of darkness itself.  
He also weilded a large metal scythe, and held a large demonic-looking black book that looked like it had a pair of red eyes emblazoned on it.

"Who are you, and what do you want here?" I yelled at him, not bothering with any witty banter. I had learned that banter only makes your enemy angry, so I tended not to send any at people much anymore. Especially if I knew the enemys power levels.

"Aw... Straight to the point? You're no fun. Oh well. I wanted to see Sora fight, but he isn't around... I guess you'll have to do." He chuckled, standing up properly. I muttered to Cid from the corner of my mouth.

"I don't like the looks of this..." Cid simpley shook his head back and forth slightly, as the male continued speaking.

"My names Vonnix, for what it's worth. And the Heartless you just fought were the little guns. Now that I've seen you in action, I'm gonna bring out the _big_ guns. The _really_ big guns." He said with a smirk.

"Oh, no... This can't be good at _all_." I muttered to nobody in particular. My fears were not dampened in the least when he put two fingers into his mouth and whistled, a large portal -and I do mean large. Like, 'olympic swimming pool' large- opened up, consuming probable half of the square. A dragon-like claw grasped at the ground as it appeared through the portal, another one appearing after its brother. Both clawed hands pulled up the upper torso of a dragon that resembled something from a sci-fi movie with an unlimited budget. Not good.  
It roared, taking a swipe at the both of us, but not before I grabbed Cids arm and turned him intangible, the claw sweeping straight through us both.

I would've said something exclaiming my... _Displeasure_... Of the appearance of the beast before us, but Cid stole the worlds straight out of my mouth.

"Aw, hell."

* * *

So the big action-fight begins. Cid and Danny are beginning to bond, but just as Danny is about to fufill a lifelong dream, the Org. attacks. (As usual). Fight's probably gonna take up half the next chapter, and it's gonna take a while to organize, so be patient! 

Your insight is loved!

-Yena


	10. What Trees Reach For

**Disclaimer:** DP © BH

KH © Sq/Enix

Vonnix © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

**Authors notes:** WOO! We're into the double digits, people!! Never once thought I'd make it this far. Hell, I probably wouldn't even thought about this story had I not been cleaning my document bin, and for you guys cheering me on throughout this whole time!

You guys all get a virtu-cookie!

**This chapter was named after the song that helped me write it; "What Trees Reach For" By Kris Wilson. It a very good song, you should go listen to it. He's located on deviantart, and his username is kris-wilson.**

-The ships Sora mentions later in the story are all taken from KH1.

* * *

Talk about cruel irony. Not even ten minutes before Vonnix had shown up, I had been musing on how I might fare if forced to fight one of these things, one of the Heartless or Nobody bosses that Sora took down oh-so-often. Then Vonnix had popped out of nowhere -courtasy of those damnable dark portals of theirs. Vlad could teleport. Org XIII could teleport. Why can't_ I_ teleport?!- and had summoned the giant Dragon Nobody that me and Cid were working furiously to destroy before it managed to pull itself out of the portal the rest of the way. I didn't want to see its lower half, nor did I want to know if it had wings of not. A battle in mid air against something of it's size would be extremely difficult, especially considering I'd likely be fighting it alone.

Cid had pulled a pole-spear out of god-only-knew-where, and I was randomly sheilding him whenever the need arose. My attacks consisted of my Cryokinesis and Ectobeams, while defence, Flight, Invisibility, Intangibility, and Shields -obviously-. At the moment, Cid was trying to catch the great beasts attention so I could deal the final blow that would knock it into what ghosts back home call 'oblivion'.

"Oh, come on! You can't honestly be this hellbent on killing something thats already dead!" I yelled out while dodging it's attacks, realizing at once that it was the exact wrong thing to say, as Cid stopped his relentless stabbing of the beasts hands to look up at me with confusion filling every part of his face.

"Yer _dead_?" He asked, though it sounded retoricle. This gave the monster, however, a chance to attack. In one rapid movement, it raised a clawed hand/paw/thing and smashed Cid into the side of a building, where he slid -or fell, rather- into a pile of rubble. This action thoroughly distracted me, and I turned to the unconscious man.

"Cid!" I yelled, hoping to god that the man was okay, and more importantly, still alive. Again, this gave the beast a chance to attack, and I soon found myself pinned to the ground underneath it's big, clawed hand. After maybe five or ten minutes, Vonnix appeared beside me, once again clapping his gloved hands. Sarcasm filled his voice when he spoke.

"Nice, real nice, Phantom. Spectacular loss. Not as entertaining as Sora's fighting. Or Fullmetals. Oh, how I'd _love_ to see you, Sora and Fullmetal go at it like bitter enemies. That would be a fight for the books." I ignored the mans tangent as something echoed suddenly through my mind.  
I didn't have the white pouch with me. In real life, I had started to breath rapidly, almost bordering on hyperventelation. Vonnix was staring at me, wondering what was happening, most likely. My mind immediatly accused the elder Org. member of being the thief. I turned to him, my eyes blazing with fury.

"Where did you take it?! Tell me!" This time Vonnix seemed utterly confused, and it looked genuine.

"What're you talking about? Where did I take what?" My fury did not dissappate. The dragon however, did, as it task seemed to be complete and it had slunk away into it's portal back to wherever it lived. So I, being free to move, was on top of the man like a flea to a dog, punching any part of him I could reach. Punching him for abducting Sam, for my fake life, for the white pouch that was no longer in my possesion, for injuring Cid. Everything I could think of. At some point he must have fallen unconscious, because he eventually stopped retaliating. He couldn't have died, that I knew, as he technichally wasn't alive to begin with, considering he 'had no heart'.

A familiar voice echoed behind me, and immediatly darkness filled my vision as a blunt object -it felt like it might have been a stick of sorts, but was far to thin and metal-cold to be one- hit the back of my head.

"Danny, that's enough!"

0o0o0o0

Back at home I had often found myself unable to control my emotions. Like with Vlad, for instance. Often I ended up filled with rage and blindly ignoring my strategic side to simply attack him as much as possible. Of course, I usually won in the end, but that's not the point. I had, the information full in my mind, attacked an Organization member who had nothing to do -I think- with my missing white pouch. After all, this had been the first time I had seen the man. Likely it had been the same with him, only the other way around.

"Danny, you okay now?" Maybe it had been Sora that had knocked me out. The object that had hit me had certainly felt like his keyblade now that I thought about it.

"I think you hit 'im too hard Sora. His eyes are all glazed over." What had happened to Vonnix, though? I had knocked him out, then been knocked out myself... Perhaps he had been faking unconsciousness, and had escaped after I was knocked out. That seemed reasonable.

"I know a fool-proof way to get him to respond. Watch this." Perhaps I _had_ been hasty. But how was I to know somebody from the Organization hadn't-

"GHOST!" I jumped at the sudden yell, standing straight up and rapidly morphing into my ghost form, readying myself to combat the aforementioned enemy.

"Where is it?! I'll blast it to bits if it touches you, Sam!" My guard dropped as laughter erupted around me.

"That's awsome!" I heard Sora say through his laughter.

"I'd say you're wound up too tight, kid." Leon said, amusement in his voice. I sighed, ignoring everyones comments, concern only rising in me when I spied Vonnix sitting, tied up, in a corner.

"What's _he_ doing here?!" Vonnix chuckled, looking at me, then at everyone in the room in turn.

"I'm being held captive, dork. And once I figure out how to weave past the White Materia fused with this cloth, I'll summon up so many Heartless, you'll lose in seconds." I saw Sora frown with worry.

"It's alright. He won't try to escape, _will he_?" I heard Aerith say, directing the fierce-sounding 'will he' to Vonnix. Much to my surprise, I saw the Org. member shudder slightly, and nod.

"No... Ma'am..." Leon smiled at Vonnix, chuckling. Right as I was about to bring up the fact that Cid had been knocked unconscious, Sora walked up to me.

"I've been wondering... Have you heard of any sign of my friend, Riku? Me, him and Kairi got seperated a few weeks ago while traveling on our Gummi Ship." I gasped. Llexam! When he was introducing himself, he had started saying Ri-something. He had also mentioned the same story Sora was bringing up. That meant Llexam and Riku were likely the very same person.  
I looked directly into Soras sky-blue eyes, a look of confidance on my face.

"I know where Riku is. He's on The World That Never Was, hiding in the castle there. If you get me back there, I can bring you to him." Sora's mouth dropped open. Perhaps he hadn't been expecting my knowledge of a friend he had probably assumed I had never met. Sora seemed to realize his shocked look, and immediatly composed himself.

"Alright. I just hope my Gummi ship is in good enough shape to travel." Suddenly, Cid's voice came from behind us.

"She should be able ta travel, but ah suggest you stay away from th'Heartless. She won't be able te handle another beaten' like the one before." He said quietly. I turned toward him.

"You okay, Cid? Nothing broken?" Cid shook his head.

"Nope. Save fer a bruised ego, and a need for the ability te ignore random comment's like yers, I'm fine. I been through worse than that." I sighed, smiling, while turning back to Sora. Had I been Sora, I would likely have seen a mischevious shimmer in my eyes.

"This time, we're taking the fast route." I said, morphing into Phantom as a slightly dark grin crept onto my face.

---

"Warn me next time you do-Ahhhh!" Sora yelled as I swerved and dodged the flying Heartless, putting him through a loop that would've scared even the toughest people. I laughed at how scared he was. Couldn't even handle a little one-on-one with the sky, and his name even _meant_ sky.

"Don't worry, If you're scared I'm gonna drop you, I won't. I can carry a bus-full of kids, no problem. One teenaged guy is nothing." I said, freezing a group of Heartless with a shot of Cryokinesis though my eyes. "And I'm pretty much_ part_ sky, with how much I fly around. You don't need to worry about _anything_." I said, looking down at him. His scream alerted me to look up, where a tower was zooming forward to greet us. Casually, I turned intangible, grinning when I saw Sora raise his hands up in front of his face, then lower them once he had the courage to look and see we had passed through said tower. Still grinning, I spoke.

"Okay, except that."

A few minutes of silence had passed by when Sora pointed to a large building with a sort of -closed- retractable roof.

"Thats it! That's the Gummi Ship dock." I nodded silently, swerving downward, intangible. The minute we hit the inside of the building, I could feel pride rolling off Sora, and I knew I must've looked like I was, to put it bluntly, in a mix of shock and awe. Never in my life had I seen so many ships in one place, not to mention they all looked like they had been torn straight out of a teenagers videogame. After we had landed, Sora began to point some of them out, calling the immpressive ships off by name.

"That one is Atomos, thats the Golem, those are Diablos, Deathguise, and Alexander. Those ones docked over there are called Leviathan, Ramuh, Omega, and Odin. Mines over there. The Highwind. Kinda dinky compared to the others, but it's never been beaten yet." Sora said, as we walked over to the small -compared to the other ships, anyway- ship. I smiled at him, unable to say a word. This had been where Cid was trying to take me before. No wonder he thought I would like these ships. Even somebody who _hated_ space would like these ships!  
The ships small door opened, and I followed Sora up it -technically, I flew beside him and phased through the ships hull, but...- into the engine room. He then led me through the simple corridor and into what I assumed to be the... Command deck? was that what it was called? Anyway, he led me onto the upper deck, and sat down in the drivers seat. At least, it looked like one, as it had most of the buttons on the dashboard in front of it.

"Sit over there, thats weapons control. If we're gonna go back to The World That Never Was, we're gonna need weapons." I nodded again, not saying anything. After all, I could offer no advice this time around. Flying a ship was Sora's thing, _he_ would be the one to give advice to _me_.  
One look at my controls was all I needed to understand what did what. The controls, luckly for me, were eeriely similar to most of the Videogames I had played with Tucker, along with some two dozen flight simulations I had run through at home. Both of us waited patiently as the retractable door did just that; retracted.

As we shot through the open sky toward the world I had just been rescued from, I knew, through my hero-complex developed instinct, our next goal after finding Riku:

Search for Kairi.

* * *

And that's the not-quite-so-long-awaited chapter Ten. Twice I had lost the original copy for this chapter, so It was not easy to get back in the mood to write this. 

But thanks to the music produced by Deviantart's Kris-Wilson, my muse and will to write has been restored, so I am back with a vengance!

And in case you didn't catch it from the Authors notes up top: The ships Sora mentions are all from KH1.

Anywhoo:

The plot narrows down, Danny and Sora are going back to the world they spent so long trying to get off of so they can rescue Riku (Who has been revealed to be Llexam. But you guys likely already knew that.) and are hoping to find Kairi afterwards. Wow, I got some research to do. Till next time, my ever-loyal readers!

Adieu!

-Yena


	11. Here we go!

**Disclaimer:** DP © BH

KH © Sq/Enix

Vonnix © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

**Authors notes:** Chapter named after the song 'Here we go' By Jason Gochin.

* * *

"Tell me again why we're -Take that!- Why we're heading back _toward _that place?" I asked Sora while simultaniously blasting a group of Heartless ships -it bowled me over when I discovered that Heartless could indeed fly ships-.

"We're going back to find Riku. After that..." Sora trailed off. He didn't seem to know what we would do afterwards. I, however, knew exactly what to do.

"After that, we're looking for Kairi." I didn't even have to look away from the holographic 'LCD' screen to know that Sora was shocked that I wanted to help find the friends of a complete stranger. Although, I didn't care whether he was a stranger or not. He was on my side, his friends were missing, and I knew where one was. I was going to help.

"That's it, there!" I heard Sora yell, a bombardment of heartless closing in on us as we neared a desolet-looking world. I, however, was used to this sort of thing on my videogames, and blasted each one in turn, not a single ship getting in a hit at us. As we drifted toward the world, Sora looked at me, shock and surprise in his face.

"You're great at this..."He said as I chuckled.

"I guess being a lazy ass for thirteen years _can_ pay off." Confusion filled Soras face as I realized what I had just said. I had said '13 years', which could be taken in as me saying I was only thirteen years old. I quickly spoke up again, before he could ask anything.

"I'm seventeen, so you know. I got my powers on my fourteenth birthday. It was then that my days as a hero started up. No longer was I allowed to be lazy, had to be active and training for the next attack on my home every moment of every other day." Sora smiled, not looking away from the big holographic moniter hovering above his controls.

"I know what that's like. I used to live on a place called 'Destiny Islands'. It was the most beautiful place you could ever imagine. All sorts of exotic plants, treehouses built right into the trees, a waterfall that poured down the cleanest water anywhere... It was also surrounded by an ocean. The mainland was right nearby, though when you went to the island, it was as if it wasn't anywhere close." I could see it in my head. A paradise that only a child could imagine. I was broken out of those thoughts, however, when a beeping noise tore through the silence Sora had created.

"We've landed." He said simply pressing a button and leading me back down into and through the engine room, to the dark world outside his ship.  
I recognised the area as the same place Mendirax had teleported me. It was the very same allyway. But dispite the fact that I knew where we were, and likely could lead us to the castle much quicker than Sora could -Due to my ability to fly- I decided to let Sora play the main character for a while. Besides, the poor boy had seen barely any action from the time I met him, to now.

"This way." He said, walking calmly through the allyway, bashing any Heartless that showed up with his keyblade. Before long, we found ourselves nearing the Shadow-skyscraper. I didn't expect, however, to see my Amity-Park Arch-foe talking with one of Sora's Arch-foes.

"Organization Thirteen!" Sora said.

"Vlad!" I exclaimed. Both men turned to us, and I recognized the Org. member as Nexidal, the fast-talking Pyrokinetic. It quickly occured to me that I hadn't seen much of the Org. after having been carried inside of the castle by Llexam. Or, rather, Riku. In front of me, Vlad spoke up.

"Ah, Daniel. I've been looking for you. As has this man here, Nexidal." He looked down slightly, at my red-and-white shirted chest. "And already you've lost the pouch that Light gave to you." He tutted. "Naughty boy. Let's you and me hope that the Org. Doesn't find a way to open it, hmm?" Immediatly I felt my anger spike. Beside me, Sora seemed only confused as he looked toward me.

"Pouch? 'Light' gave you a pouch?" He seemed to have forgotten about the Organization member.

"Yeah, and it was real important that I didn't lose it. Now the Org. has it." I spat out the groups name with Venom in my voice. I couldn't beleive that I had once trusted them. I winced as Riku/Llexams voice echoed painfully in my skull.

'_Danny! Get to Hidden Fate as fast as you can! I won't be able to hold off the rest of the Org. for much longer! -Erg- Quickly!_' I breathed in sharply as I morphed into my ghost mode, Vlad preparing himself for battle. Me and Sora looked at each other, and he nodded. Perhaps Riku/Llexam had voiced a message to Sora as well? I placed a fake 'fight' emotion into my voice, speaking towards Vlad.

"Oh, you guys are gonna love this... I call it..." I rapidly jumped behind Sora, hoisting him up by his armpits and zooming into the sky, while yelling the rest of the sentance to the men below us. "The quick escape!" Below me, Sora laughed, spreading his hands out in the air, apparantly not so afraid of flying as I had first thought. Unfortunately I had forgotten that Vlad too was half-ghost, so I soon found myself speeding across the dark world at 112 miles-per while avoiding ectoplasmic shots from an angry half-ghost arch-foe. Sora was, at the moment, my only weapon, as I had to concentrate on loosing Vlad while keeping me and Sora from crashing into anything. Now, what I mean by 'weapon' is that Sora was turned toward Vlad -very uncomfortable for me- while shooting shots of magic from his keyblade. He even could use something akin to my sheilds, which he called 'reflect'. Without looking at him, I yelled a warning.

"Brace yourself!" I turned intangible as we neared the castle, rapidly turning myself around and sucking in a deep breath. Vlad knew immediatly what was coming, but attempted to dodge it too late. My ghostly wail hit Vlad full-force, so as we -being myself and Sora- zoomed into some random part of the castle, Vlad was sent flying, no pun intended.

---

"What was _that_?" Sora asked me, amazment obvious in his voice. I was out of breath, and had lost alot of energy by using my wail at that level, but managed to keep myself conscious as we trudged through the hallways.

"G-ghostly wuh-wail..." I panted, trying desperately to conserve energy. Hell, even simply _standing_ was taking alot out of me. That being so, I collapsed onto the floor, confusion wracking my mind. Why was I this tired? I had used my ghostly wail before, and I usually just transformed back to my human mode afterward. Of course, I had done that, but never had I been this tired. Perhaps it was an effect of the world I was on. Yes, that made sense. I had never used my Wail outside of _my_ world before. Beside me, Sora spoke up worriedly.

"Are you okay? I can carry you if you want. I don't mind." I didn't have the strength to decline, so the keyblader quickly scooped me up, putting me into a piggy-back position, and closed my eyes, panting deeply as Sora hurried down the hall. As unconsciousness gripped me, the last thing I remembered was telling Sora where Riku was.

0o0o0o0

**-Radiant Garden; Cid's House-**

"So just how d'you plan on making me talk? You can't threaten me with death, cause I can't die, I don't technically exist in the first place. I'll just dissappear and then reappear back in the castle. Then I'll just tell Superior where your little hideout is. Might already know, though. Theres lots of stuff Supirior knows from before that he hasn't told us yet." Vonnix said, shifting his weight so he was leaning against the wall. He realized, however, that he had revealed something.

'Oh well.' He thought. 'Not like they'll ever beat him _now_.' Vonnix grinned, unnerving a few of the house's inhabitants. Leon, however, remain calm and cool, instantly working through the unintentional hint like it was nothing.

"'Supirior'? 'Knows from before'? That means that Xemnas must be back." Leon sighed. Why did Xemnas _always_ have to come back?

"Sora beat 'im twice before, he can do it again." Cid said, kicking the organization member in his side. Vonnix fell sideways onto the floor, crying out in pain.

"What was _that_ for?" Vonnix yelled. Cid chuckled.

"Fer being part o' the Organization. Yer the enemy, plus you almos' killed me an' Danny. Consider it payback. Part one of an unknown number." Cid spouted, looking pleased.

"You'll get yours, old man. I said it once, I'll say it again. Once I weave past the White materia fused with these bindings, you're all dead." From across the room, Yuffie stood up, chucking something in Vonnix's direction before turning back to her book. It was a small shurikan, and Vonnix soon found it embedded deep in the wall not even a centimeter from his ear. A chill ran down his spine.

"You never shut up, do ya? Well, not sure if this means anything, but I have deadly accurate aim. I missed on purpose. Say another word, and you'll have five of these in your chest." Yuffie said, waving another metal star around without turning from said book. Vonnix noticed it's title was 'A History of Wutai'.

"Fine. Let me go, and I'll..." Leon smirked, turning toward the Org. member.

"You'll what? Summon up your Heartless and Nobodies to destroy us? Not likely. Once Sora and Danny get back here with Riku, they'll take you down for good." Vonnix sighed. It was useless. These guys would never trust him.

Why did they have to send _him_ on this mission?

* * *

Mrrg... Gotta end this chapter before it turns shitty, and before I stray off-plot. 

Man, you guys are getting lots of chapters quickly. Lucky for you, I just received a wonderful burst of inspiration.

Okay! Chapter summery!

Danny and Sora have run into Vlad, who seems on the villans side again. They escape inside the castle where Danny sighs out where Riku is before falling unconscious, and Vonnix is still trapped and being help hostage by the Reconstruction Commitee Gang. What'll happen next?

I ain't telling you!

See you next chapter!

-Yena


	12. Second escape, and new friends

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix?

Balthier © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM?

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ???

**Authors notes:** And thus, the crossovers start.

Yeah, I know the first part is short. Get over it. And also, yes. I like making the main characters fall unconscious. It lets me bring them to a new area quickly and without much effort/discription.

* * *

Sora panted as he ran down the hall, Danny held uslessly on his back. This was not how he had expected his new adventure to turn out. Fighting Org. XIII (again) with friends from what seemed to be a world never even remotely touched by the heartless.  
Sora sighed. Hopefully it would stay that way. Heartless-free. Judging from Danny, it must have had its own fair share of bad guys running around. Heartless would only make things worse. 

"Oh look, guys. Our little friends 'ave come running right back 'ere. Did you miss us?" Sora gasped, looking around, yet seeing nobody. Laughing echoed through the hallway.

"Where are you?!" Sora yelled, continuing to look around himself. More laughter.

"Well, tha' would be no fun at all, _telling_ ya." The british-sounding mans tone changed, taking on a much more serious air. " 'Owever, we ain't 'ere to play games. So I'm gonna make this short an' sweet." Something hard quickly connected with the back of Sora's skull, and the ground rose to meet him as blackness invaded his sight.

0o0o0o0

-Danny's POV-

Wh... What happened? Feels like I was hit with a train. Not to mention the fact that I feel like I'm hanging. Which I probably am.  
I opened my eyes, groaning and catching the attention of whoever was with me, wherever I was as I stared at the ground. .

"Danny! You're okay!" I snorted at this. Okay? To hell if I was okay. I feel like I've been used as a fighting dummy. But I was alive, and that's really what mattered, and why Sora exclaimed the fact that I was alright.

"I've been through alot worse, beleive me." I muttered, closing my eyes as I attempted to stand and stretch my tense muscles -especially considering I've been almost literally hanging by my wrists on the wall of a rather large cell-. "That feels good..." I whispered, as I arched my back to eradicate some of the kinks in said body area. I opened my eyes again, finally taking in my surroundings. Four people I didn't know were in the same cell as me and Sora, all of us chained to walls by cuffs that only let you move about a foot away from the wall you were hanging on. Mine glowed -a sign that they where ghost proof. The Org. doesn't skimp out on the details, huh?- and a boy with golden hair and a metal leg and arm -god, he looks cool.- had cuffs that appeared special-made, like my own. They covered his hands completely, and went halfway down his arms. Perhaps he had powers of some sort that required his hands?  
The others of our new party included an older male in what I recognised as a military outfit with a canada flag on one of the shoulders. Next to him was a young boy -probably not much younger than myself- dressed in a suit that looked like one I'd seen in a sci-fi film. White coat and pants, blue boots and orange gloves, along with a white head... Mask? With orange streaks going from the bottoms of his cheeks to right underneath his eyes, along with an orange scarf. Weird.  
I couldn't even begin to describe the third males outfit to myself, at first. Golden chestplate armor, two black belts circling his hips, each equipped with a large pocketlike bag, and he wore black shoes and a white shirt -underneath the chest armor-. He appeared to be muttering to himself.

"Danny, these guys are Rodney" He pointed to each in turn as he spoke. 'Rodney' was the military man. "Chiro " The space-kid. "Edward" The guy with the two metal limbs. "And Balthier." The man with the chest armor muttering to himself. I made a mental note to ask how Sora knew these peoples names later.

"Well, it's nice to know what you all are called. I'm Danny." I said, looking at the lot of them. Silence filled the room, only broken once Chiro spoke up.

"So how are we gonna get out of here?" Rodney quickly answered that question.

"Simple. We're not. We have no supplies, we're chained to a wall, and the only ones of us that likely can do anything useful have customized handcuffs." I blinked as he spoke. He had said everything rather fast. Quickly, silence once again filled the room.

"Not quite." Everyone turned to the man addressed as 'Balthier'. I noted to myself that he had what sounded like an english accent. "I'll get us out. A sky pirate is never without a backup plan." More things I didn't know. I'd ask about what a 'sky pirate' was later, as well. Balthier turned his head into a position that allowed him to see his cuffs, speaking a warning before doing what he did next. "I'd advise you all to cover your ears, if you can." And he spat out what looked like a chewed wad of gum at one of his cuffs. Before I could voice my growing confusion, however, it exploded, blowing the single cuff to bits.  
Balthier grinned, and pulled a silver something-or-other out of one of his sleeves, procceeding to pick the lock of the other cuff. Before long, it clicked open, and he moved to myself and Sora. After a few minutes, all of us where freed.

"I trust someone in this party will be able to get us out? I do believe we aren't exactly welcome houseguests." I transformed into my phantom form, grabbing one of Soras hands.

"Okay. Everyone, join hands. I can only spread my intangibility to others if they're touching me, or touching someone who's... touching me." Lord, that sounded gross. Anyway, I was surprised when everyone obeyed my command, but I didn't hestiate any in leading them out of the cell, where we all let go of each other. Without stopping, I began to run through the hallways, leading everyone away from the room we just where in. Conversation began to quietly erupt behind me. I only paid half-attention to who was talking, though.

"How does he know where to go?" Chiro.

"How should I know? I can't mind-read. I could, once, but I almost died that time and had to get rid of it. Along with a plethora of other cool and extremely handy powers." Rodney.

"Just let the boy lead in silence. He seems to know where to go, and I don't see anyone else voicing their knowledge of this strange castle." Balthier.

"Besides, he hasn't led us into trouble yet." Was that the 'Edward' guy? Whatever. I had to get out of this castle, and I wasn't able to carry all these people at once. Not yet, anyway... Had I been able to look at myself, I would've seen my eyes sparkle, an idea fresh in my mind.  
I stopped running, turning to the group of males following me.

"Okay, I have an idea that'll probably work. Watch this." And a grin split my face as I consentrated on splitting myself into four. Once that was done, I ordered one of my clones to pick up Balthier, another; Rodney, the third, Edward. I -the 'original' me- grabbed Sora in one hand, Chiro in the other. Both boys were rather light, so I could handle it. Now that I actually thought about it, I probably _could've_ handled the weight of, at most, half the men here. Perhaps it was the fact that I would've been required to hold them physically, instead of through something else, like a car. Made sense. I floated up into the air, readying myself for flight.

"Now, for Riku." I muttered, Sora nodding. Chiro just looked between the two of us, not saying anything. "This way!" I told my duplicates, sighing when I noticed that Edward seemed to be examining the likely awqward-feeling clone that held him, while Rodney wasn't even letting the clone I had ordered to pick him up to do so -pick him up, that is. Rodney wasn't letting that clone pick him up.-.

"That's not possible!" He yelled accusingly, pointing a finger at the clone. I sighed, turning to him, but before I could say anything, Edward interrupted.

"Who cares anymore? I've been through so much that isn't supposed to be possible that I've had my belief in science being able to explain everything thrown out the window. Just sit back and accept it for what it is." It was at that moment that I realized we weren't alone. A noise had echoed from down the hall, and I wasn't about to get thrown back into that cell.  
Both me and the clones that were in the air sunk to the ground, and I made a shushing motion to the group. Dispite the earlier complaints by Rodney, he complied, instantly taking a serious-yet-scared-looking military 'sneaking' stance. Everyone followed my movements as I pressed myself against the wall, and as I neared a turn, I motioned for them to stay still and quiet as I peeked around said turn.

I had been right. Standing in the center of the hall was Nexidal. He appeared to be looking for something, and was muttering to himself as well. I leaned over a little bit more, taking in what the man was saying.

"C'mon, IDidn'tConvinceXemnasToGiveTheGirlBackThosePowersForYouToGetYourselfCaptured. YouGottaFindAWayOuttaThere, OrThePlanIsRuined!" I blinked as the words rolled right over me. I had forgotten how fast he spoke. Unfotunately, I wasn't able to properly decifer what he had said, as somebody behind me made some kind of movement that produced a rather noisy metal sound akin to a mix of metal both scraping and squeaking. I flinched, realizing that it was likely Edward. Those cuffs where still attached to his hands, regardless of being unlocked.

Damn him.

Nexidal whipped around, and got a full view of my head before I turned and yelled to my group to run. Like hell. Nobody complained as everybody -including the clones I had forgotten were there. Apparantly I had also forgotten about my ghost powers, because I was running. On my feet.- ran like the devil was nipping at their heels. Behind us all -It occured to me that there where now nine of us, when the duplicates were added. My god, we'll suck at hiding if ever we need to.- Nexidal was yelling for us to stop, that he was trying to help.

"Hey! IWantToHhelp!" He yelled.

"Oh yeah? Why should I believe _you_?" I said, still running. I couldn't be bothered to fly.

"Because! Not_All_OfUsInTheOrgnization_Want_ToBeHere!"

"What?!" I heard Sora yell, stopping his run abruptly. And considering he was at the lead, his abrupt stop caused everyone to careen into each other, allowing the panting Nexidal to catch up.

"God, YouGuysAreFast. IToldHimThatJustHandcuffsWasABadIdea." After pulling myself off of everyones fallen bodies, I turned to Nexidal. I ordered my clones to stand beside me, each of them charging up an ectobeam. Nexidal quickly gained a mildly scared look, but before he -or anyone else for that matter- could say anything, I spoke.

"You got five minutes to explain yourself. Then I let my duplicates let their blasts go, and you're fried worse then my dad's burnt eggs." A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of doing something like that to someone other than a ghost, but I held my stance and didn't let my face reveal anything. It was really thanks to Clockwork that I now had such a good poker face. Having a Master of Time for a ghostly guardian could pay off. But part of me believed the pyrokinetic, and his speed-talking made the five minutes I had given him more like two hours.

"FiveMinutes? Okay." The older man cleared his throat, and I braced myself for the coming barrage of words. "YouSee, BecauseSomeOfUsHereDidn'tWantToJoinTheOrganizationInTheFirstPlace, WeOccationallyGotTogetherInSecretToDiscussWaysOfTakingTheOthersDownWithoutSorasInvolvement. ThenWhenAxelCameIntoTheOrg., WeThoughtWeHadEverythingWeNeededToTakeOur'Superior'Down. Unfortunately, Though, XemnasGotToAxelBeforeUsAndThenDiscoveredWhatWeWhereDoing, WeHadToDisbandRealFast. XemnasManagedToReconvinceMostOfOurMembers, SoKnowOnlyTwoOfUsAreLeft, NotIncludingAxel." Nexidal paused for breath. One of my duplicates nodded to another, then walked over to Rodney to check the time. When he walked back over to me and sent the time over via the mental link that all ghosts have with their duplicates, I was impressed. At the rate he was going, Nexidal would likely finish explaining after a minute and a half. But I was broken out of my thoughts as the man began to speak again.

"ISentVonnix, TheOtherMember, OverToRadiantGardenToCheckAndSeeIfYouGuysHadGottenOffAlright, CauseYouWhereCapturedByXemnas. IHeardThatSamanthaHadBrokenYouOut, ButIWantedToBeSure." I cut Nexidal off when I noticed the flaw in his explanation. Yes, Vonnix had gone to Radiant Garden, but he hadn't checked to see if we had gotten off the heartless's world alright. He had said he was looking for Sora, and had then set a Nobody Dragon after us.

"Then why did he attack us?" I said, my duplicates sensing my anger and charging their Ectobeams up further. Nexidal, obviously sensing my growing hostility, quickly explained.

"OhYeah!VonnixWasAboutToGetIntoDisguise, SoHeCouldTalkToYouWithoutGettingAttacked, ButNaxanCaughtHimWanderingInTheMarketplaceWaitingForYouGuys. NaxanToldHimThatXemnasHadOrderedHimToTakeSoraDown. ThenHeRanIntoYouAndThatGummiShipMechanic, AndWithNaxanWatching, HeHadNoChoiceButToAttack. WhichLandedHimIntoGettingCapturedAndHeldHosage." Now the explanation was all well and good, plus everything fit together perfectly, but how he knew everything so well was another story.

"And you know all this how?" I asked, none of my clones lowering their Ectobeams. All of them and myself where aware that five minutes had long passed, but I no longer cared. If it meant I was going to get another Org. member on my side, I was fine with it.

Nexidal grinned.

"SpecialMentalLink." He said simply. I raised an eyebrow. I hardly believed him, but once again, that little voice in my head told me to just go with it, because there where more than enough people on my side to take him down at a moments notice. But again, before I could do anything, Nexidal inturrupted me.

"I... IThinkThisIsYour's, Balance." He said, reaching into a pocket that appeared to be located on the inside of his cloak, pulling out a tiny, white pouch decorated with a yin-yang symbol. I gaped at him, gladly taking the white object from him and placing it around my neck. I felt the odd power the pouch emanated roll over me. It was definately the real thing.

"Th...Thank you." I said, quickly shaking off the shock and sending a request at him. "Alright, then. If you don't want to be with the Org, will you help us get to Hidden Fate? R-... One of our friends is trapped there, and we... Beleive... The rest of the Organization is attacking him." Nexidal took on a serious look.

"Sure. JustFollowMeEveryone." I turned to the group.

"This way." I looked at my duplicates, unsure if I should pull them out of the real world and back into myself, or if I should keep them out a bit longer.

'_Well, who knows if Nex is telling the truth?_' One said to me mentally.

'_He could be lying to get our trust._' The second one told me.

'_In which case, we'll need as many people as possible to attack him if he betrays us._' Very good idea. Man, I love creating semi-self-aware duplicates of myself. Sometimes they came up with their own ideas. Not often, but they occationally did. And they usually were the better idea to follow.

-I'll skip most of our walking, 'cause we don't say anything.-

We snuck carefully around the bend at the end of Fear to Freedom as Nexidal continued to lead us to the room Riku was trapped in. My duplicates were keeping the rest of our party invisible, the only one of us that needed to be forcebly kept quiet being Rodney. I was sure that he would keep quiet, but I didn't want him accidentally making any comments about things that 'weren't possible'. Better safe than sorry, right?

"Careful. GottaBeQuietHere. RealQuiet." Nexidal told us. I nodded, turning myself invisible, along with turning myself -along with the rest of the group- intangible. It was like Nexidal was wandering alone. Nex grinned at where I would've been had I been solid, and gained the confidant pose he usually had. Ahead of us was a mob of Org. XIII members, crowded around a shielded door that I knew led to Hidden Fate. I glanced around, and silently walked forward, stopping slightly to the right of where the door was. I sent out a command to my duplicates, telling them to follow my lead.

"_We're going to phase through the wall into Hidden Fate._" I told my clones.

'_Will that even work?_' Said one of my clones.

'_Who knows. But We need to get to Riku._' The clone behind me, and to my left said.

'_It's worth a shot._' Behind me, and to my right.

I took a quiet breath, walking forward and through the wall to the side of the door that led into where we needed to go. It felt odd, and the room seemed to try to push me back, but we made it all the same. I resisted the urge to cheer, and pushed on, down the spiral staircase that stopped out at our destination.

"C'mon, Danny... Where are you two...?" I smiled at the male pacing in the room in front of us, letting my party gain solidity and visibility as me and Sora walked forward. Riku seemed distraced, and was turned away from us, but I held back as Sora placed a hand on the silverhaired male's -He had his hood down- shoulder. Riku turned, visibly happy to see his friends.

"Sora!" He yelled out, hugging the brunette I still knew little about. They let go of each other, still smiling.

"I just can't get rid of you, can I?" Riku said, grinning at his friend. Sora turned to me and my group, about to attempt introductions, but Riku cut him off.

"You can introduce us all to each other _after_ we've escaped the homeworld of darkness incarnate." Sora nodded, looking serious.

"Right. Danny, can you-" I grinned as Istopped him. I already knew his question.

"I've only been able to split myself into four, at the most. This is gonna take a bit of strength, and we might have a crash-landing, but I can get us back to the ship." And after a bit of thinking, we were off. One of my clones had -with very reluctant permission- overshadowed Rodney, Who was carrying Riku, So that was two people down already. Another duplicate held Edward, who was still in cuffs, but was able to hold Chiro up. The last of my duplicates held Balthier. I held Sora. So, the lot of us turned intangible, we escaped through the wall and into the cold, ever-night sky. We had gotten out.

But, as usual, escape is never that simple.

"Don't think you're getting off that easy!" I heard the deep voice that was Erradexn say.

"You think escaping with this many people in tow was _easy_?" I yelled back at him, Sora twisting himself around and shooting blasts of magic at the Nobodies -Dusks, Snipers, the whole lot of them.- that where likely behind and following us. To my surprise, Balthier and Chiro began to help out, the older shooting a fancy-looking gun while the younger threw what I presumed to be lightning bolts.

"Almost there!" I yelled, pulling us into a swift dive as we neared the Gummi ship.

"Don't let them escape!" Was the last words we heard him say, because we had just phased through the ships roof and into the cockpit. I pulled Sora up, sitting myself down at weapons control while Sora began to lift the ship off the ground. Without turning to me, he spoke.

"We're gonna have to use the Warp Drive!" I knew what that was. I was sure everyone else did, too, because they all held onto something as the ship began to audibly charge power.

"Three!" I began to shoot anything that neared us; everything I could see was a nobody.

"Two!" Erradexn began to shoot at us. How much could the ship take? Had Cid told us?

"One!" The next thing I knew, we where floating in the middle of nowere, the dark world we had just escaped from nowhere in sight. Even though I was sitting, I collapsed in my chair.

"I never want to do that again." Suddenly, the ship lurched. Uh oh. Where we being attacked again? Sora turned to us.

"Brace yourselves!" As I looked through my holographic screen, I blanched. We were being pulled -or falling- toward a world that had no visible ground. Toward a world made of water.

"Oh, crap!" Somebody yelled.

The last thing I remembered was being blasted with a shot of Soras magic -it felt warm, almost.-, and being surrounded by wet.

Lots of wet.

* * *

I will mentally slap anyone who doesn't know where Danny and friends are going now. 

So, the crossovers are beginning, and this might end up the last chapter you get for a while.

I'm too lazy to write up a summery, so I bid you a fond farewell.

Till next time!

-Yena


	13. Time for travel! Atlantica

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix?

Balthier, Vaan, Fran © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM?

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ???

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © ???

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ??? (Can't remember at the moment)

**Authors notes:** It's getting real hard to keep track of all these people... T-T

This takes place AFTER KH2, so Ariel ain't in Atlantica. Foo on you. Oh yeah, The first and third things Danny says/thinks is out loud as well.

Also, I appologise if Envy is out of character. I've never written him before, or half the characters I'm incorperating into this story. So I apologise if they're OOC.

Be prepared to get an explanation of Balthiers homeland.

* * *

"Danny... Wake up, Danny!" Ugh... Five more minutes... Can't Skulker wait to fight till morning? Seriously... 

"Do you know who this 'Skulker' is, Sora?" Leave me alone...

"No. C'mon, Danny, don't you wanna see your_ tail_?" Seen my tail before... S'nothin' special. See it every time I fly. Leave me alone.

"I don't think he knows that he's underwater, Sora." Wait... What?

"I figured _that_ out, Riku." I'm... Underwater? Then how come I can breath?

I opened my eyes, immediatly blinking them when salt water stung my eyes. I was laying on a sandy beach. Or, at least, that's what my first impression was. Until I saw the rippling sun reflection on the surface of the water waaaaay above me.

"Crap. Oh, crap oh crap oh crap. I'm... A mermaid?"

"The proper term is mer_man_." I heard Riku tell me. His tail was black, but had specks of sliver over it. Sora's was sky blue. My own tail was purpleish in color, and had around twenty neon-blue stripes going down it horizontally. The stripes ended at the green strips that startted from my hips down to the base of my tail fins. A purple-blue fur-like strip of fins stretched straight down the center of the back of my tail, as well. The white pouch floated around my neck. In short, my tail looked kick-ass. In my opinion, anyway. I looked around me, trying to find the rest of the people we had come with.

The first person I saw was Balthier. He was wearing what looked like the top-half of a white kimono, with wide sleeves that could probably fit his torso in their ends. It went down to his hips, and was held down by the crossed belts he had on before. His tail was grey, decorated with black swirls. Next, I saw Chiro. He still wore his white coat, and his tail was a pastel mix of orange, off-white, and blue. Rodney had a military vest on, and his tail pattern was eeriely similar to camo. Last was Edward. He was staring at his right arm, which was covered in silver scales, imitating the same place his metal arm would've been. Like myself, Riku, and Sora, Ed wore no shirt. -For some reason, only the teens where shirtless. Somewhere, fangirls where going wild.-  
Anyway, Eds tail was half Blood-Red on one side, and faded to a metallic silver on the other, the same silver as his arm. I attempted to swim over to him, but I just wound up stirring up dust. I did catch the others attention, however. Well... Except Rodney and Edward. Rodney was yelling to nobody in particular that none of this was possible, while Ed seemed too hung up on the fact that his previously metal arm was now simply covered in scales. I would be too, though, so I couldn't blame him. Next to me, Sora helped me up, giving me a breif lesson in swimming before a female voice broke through our silence.

"Sora, Riku? Is that you?" Whoever it was, she seemed both shocked and happy to see Sora and Riku. I looked to see that it was a red-haired girl with a slender pink tail. A pink tank-top covered her... Chest -thank god-, and she appeared just as adapt at swimming as the two males before me. Me and the rest of our party held back as Riku, Sora and the female swam toward each other.

"Kairi! You're okay!" Sora. So her name was Kairi. I'll remember that.

"How ironic is it that you and Sora land on the two safest worlds in the realm, while I get stuck on The World that Never Was?" Riku said, crossing his arms.

"Well, you are the one that has such an affinity for Darkness. It seems appropriate, if you think about it." Sora said. "I get sent to Twilight Town, Kairi gets sent to Atlantica, And you get sent to The World that Never Was." Riku nodded.

"I guess so. But we're together now. That what matters, right?" The silver-haired male said. Kairi giggled.

"Wow, Riku. When'd you start getting so sentimental?" She seemed to finally notice the six people floating aimlessly behind her friends, and swam over to us. Strangely, to me first. An intrigued look was on her face, and she placed a hand over where my heart was. I made no attempt to move her hand. Something about her was... Pure light.

"You're not like us..." She said softly, retracting her hand. I grimaced. "You're not... Human." She said. Riku placed a hand on her shoulder. He seemed upset.

"That's rude, Kairi." I chuckled, turning to Riku.

"It's alright. I'm part ghost, part human and part keyblade, it's not an insult. It's a statement." That seemed to catch Soras undivided attention. I think I said the wrong thing. Again. Damn me and my talk-first think-later mindset.

"You... You're a keyblade?"

"I guess so. That's what everyone keeps telling me. Haven't seen any real proof, but I'm not gonna take any chances. If everyones so sure that I'm this 'Balance' they keep talking about, I'll bite, and see if it's true. Besides, I've had stranger things happen to me." I said, grinning. Wasn't lying, either.

"Stranger things then traveling to different worlds to lock their keyholes, as well as knowing you're a keyblade in human form?" I blinked, then chuckled.

"No, I guess not. But I guess we should head out. We should lock this worlds 'keyhole' while we're here, right?" Sora nodded.

"Yup. Never travel to a world simply to have fun if others still need to be locked. Work before pleasure, after all." I laughed as Sora was elbowed in the side by Riku.

"That never stopped you from going off in the middle of your last adventure to sing with Ariel!" Grins erupted throughout our group as Sora blushed.

"You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about that!" His voice sounded slightly angery, but his smiling face contradicted him. 'Contradicted'? When did I learn _that_ word?

I sighed as the three friends began to talk amongst each other. Placing two fingers in my mouth, I waited for the others to cover their ears. They knew what was coming. Good for them, too, 'cause I had been practicing this particular type of whistle for a while. I had it nearly perfected.  
A shrill, ear-peircing whistle broke through the air, causing Sora, Kairi and Riku to cover thier ears and turn to me.

"What was _that_ for?!" Riku exclaimed. I shrugged absent-mindedly.

"You weren't paying attention."

"To what?" Riku asked, confusedly.

"To the fact that arguing is all well and good, but locking these 'keyholes' is more important. Or maybe my priorities are messed up. In which case, feel free to keep fighting." I knew at once a smile had slipped onto my face midway through speaking, because the silver-haired males face had blushed with embarrasment. He motioned for Sora and me to lead the way, and I gratefully swam forward. None of us in our eight-person group spoke, so as we swam to somewhere that only Sora seemed to know the direction of, I fell into my thoughts.

It surprised me to discover how similar swimming was to flying. A slightly different movement, a pinch of gravity beneath you... It felt exactly the same, though. Now I partially understood why Sora kept coming here. He, maybe, loved the feeling of swimming. The freedom, the ability to simply drift wherever the wind -or current, in our case- took you.  
I wonder how the others felt about swimming... The scientist -at least, I assumed he was a scientist from his earlier mumblings about how he didn't know how he could continue being the 'chief scientist' if he had a fish-tail.- was looking rather paranoid, and I could tell in an instant he had, at some point in his life, had a very bad experiance with being underwater. Chiro looked confidant enough, but I could still see flecks of fear in his eyes. He. too, had a fear of water, but seemed to have -at one point- conquered it. Ed just looked unsure, while Balthier was looking very interested in everything around him. My earlier curiousity about him reawakened, and I slowed down until I swam by his side. I wanted to know what a Sky Pirate was.  
It sounded cool.

"Hey, Balthier?" I said, attracting his attention.

"Hmm?"

"What's a Sky Pirate?" He looked shocked, but covered it up quickly and answered my question nonetheless.

"A Sky Pirate is a pirate of the air, flying a ship and hunting for treasure wherever he wishes. Although, occationally one might gain a bounty on ones head, _being_ a Sky Pirate means, to most, doing what is right, (regardless of the law) and simply being free to do what you wish, and go where you will." I smiled.

"That sounds cool." I said to him, as he smiled back at me.

"You remind me a little of Vaan." I tilted my head to one side.

"Who's Vaan?" Balthier chuckled.

"Apparantly he's my apprentice. I don't see how others think of our relationship that way, though. We're simply friends."

"So... Why do you do what I tell you to?" I asked him, only receiving a confused look as an answer. "I mean, back in the castle, you didn't object or anything when I told you to follow, or do something. Why?"

"Ahh... The leading man isn't always the leading man. I'm a minor character in this adventure, you're the main one. I'll leave at some point during the plots development, but you will remain until the end." I nodded at this. It was true. Balthier might not have an essential part, but I did. I was the only one who could lock the keyholes of the worlds, so I had to keep alive until the endgame.

"Say Balthier, what's your world like?" I asked him. He had mentioned that sky pirates flew ships. _Flew _them, not sailed. Balthier grinned, seeming to like having the opportunity to remember what his home was like.

"My world? Well, where I come from, there are three major continants; Rozarria, Archadia, and Dalmasca. They make up the land of Ivalice. For a time, the first two were at war with each other, Dalmasca being the unforunate battlefield, as it was the stretch of land that seperated the two." He seemed to fade into memories, but shook himself out of them and began to describe the terrain and its foliage. "Ivalice's terrain is populated with deserts, forests, caverns, mountains, even ruins and snowy icelands. There are few cities, and villages are fewer still. I'm sure that none of the beasts you have been familierized with exist in Ivalice, but monsters of all shapes and sizes roam her lands." He paused for breath, then continued with a small smile on his face. "I'm even more positive that Ivalice's technology is unlike anything your home contains." He seemed to drop off there, so I, curiousity abundant in my mind, asked for more information.

"What's the technology like?" Balthier chuckled, looking directly ahead of himself as he spoke.

"I had a feeling you'd press on for more knowledge. Airships, the main and most common method of travel, are contructed out of metal not unlike what your world has, likely. They are kept in the air by use of Magicite crystals, glossair rings, and that sort. Which reminds me. I do hope Vaan managed to escape those shadowy beasts with Fran and the Strahl all right." Fran must've been another friend, the Strahl likely being Balthier's airship.

"Here we are." I heard Sora say. Me and Balthier hurried forward, as Sora pushed a large, blue-tinted boulder aside to reveal the hidden entrance to a cave. We pressed onward, stopping only when we discovered the tiny cavern didn't hold enough room for all of us. Myself and Sora floated to the front of the group, and all litened as Sora spoke.

"Last time I was here, this is where the keyhole was located. Maybe-" But Sora was cut off as a rough male voice cut through the semi-silent cavern. Floating gently downward toward us was a male with palmtree-like forest-green hair. His tail was emerald green, but decorated with the occational gold-colored scale.

"Look, it's the Fullmetal shorty. Didn't think I'd see you alive again." Edwards reaction was less than pleasant, and I found myself holding him back as he thrashed around.

"Who're you callen' so short you need a magnifing glass just to see 'im!?" Damn, this guy was insecure about his height. Palmtree just laughed.

"I missed you, y'know that?" Palmtree blinked as he finally noticed the black-haired male holding Edward back, his eyes trailing over the rest of us. "Well, it looks like you got some new friends. Luckly..." Palmtree raised his hands into a cross position, palms facing outward. A dark look crossed his face. "So did I." He swung his hands so that his palms face toward us, then upwards. It looked like he was reaching toward the sky. After a little while, he let his hands fall to his sides again, his grin still plastered to his face.

"I think you'd better see to that problem out there." He said, motioning outside the cave. A strong roar was heard.

Everyone in our group turned tail and swam as fast as they could. Not away from palmtree, but towards the enemy that had just been summoned.

"What the heck is that...?" I heard Rodney ask from outside. I growled as I answered him.

"Tell you later." Sora swam up to my side, and we nodded to each other as we bolted toward the Nobody-Dragon creature that strongly resembled the Pokemon, Rayquaza. Only it was silver and grey instead of green and yellow.

"What is it with the bad guys and Dragons?" I head myself yell out as we charged into battle. Seriously, I hoped that the world Boss being a dragon nobody wasn't going to happen alot.

Because I was starting to _really_ hate dragons.

* * *

So I lied about when you'd get next chapter. Pfffft. You guys get two chapters in less than four days. I don't see anyone complaining. Also, this chapter was slightly rushed, so I apollogise for any miss-spellings. 

Anyway, there's a picture on deviantart that shows what Dannys tail looks like, that where I got it. His tail pattern, that is. Its located here:

Http:// slifertheskydragon. deviantart. com/art/Danek-for-Feri-san- 72943337

Just delete all the spaces. Also, **It's just the tail. Not the whole thing.**

I'm still too lazy to write a summery, so I'm just gonna go ahead with the goodbye.

_Adiós hasta la vez próxima, mis amigos!_ (I'm getting bored with english. According to bablefish, it says: 'Good bye until the next time, my friends')

-Yena


	14. Title's pending

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix?

Balthier, Vaan, Fran © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM?

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ???

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © ???

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ??? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ???

**Authors notes:** It's getting real hard to keep track of all these people... T-T

This takes place AFTER KH2, so Ariel ain't in Atlantica. Foo on you. That in turn means there will likely be very little or no king Triton.

I think it's become apparant that I like dragons. If you have any complaints, too bad. I don't care about complaining people.

--Short chapter cause this is just a sorta recap of whats going on with Vonnix, Axel and Vlad. This isn't just filler, It actually does have relevance to the plot, not to mention I haven't written these guys for a while, and their importance needs to be revealed rather than let them all rot in the confines of storyworld.

* * *

Happy. 

That's what he felt right now. Happy, joyful, blissful. Whatever words you could think of. It didn't feel much different from the 'false' emotions he had grown so used to before, he thought. Just a little more... Full, or solid. He would tell Sora about how he had really come back, or anyone else for that matter, but he couldn't risk further endangering himself, or Sora. As if the kid didn't get into enough trouble as it was. He didn't want Sora bombarded by the Organization because of him.

Axel walked calmly through the marketplace of Radiant Garden. In his hands, he held two bags, one filled with foodstuffs, like apples and corn and stuff, the other; varieing crystals, gems and shards, as Cid had been doing some synthisizing and was running out. They still didn't trust him that much -save for Aerith, bless her heart- but seemed to enjoy his company all the same. The same went for the other inhabitants of the town. Didn't exactly trust him, but seemed to enjoy his presence. Confusing.

"Run, quick!" Axel turned his head as groups of people began to run past him. What was the hurry about? Was that new clothes store having a sale? Humor aside, Axel knew the reason. He could feel them, Heartless and Nobodies where on the move, and headed toward the town. He put his groceries in a safe place, summoning his chakrams as he waited for the coming fight.

"There you are... Oh great. You brought a friend, just for me?" Axel said, staring right into the face of what he recognized as the nobody of Hyrule's 'Volvagia', a dragon that dwelled in a volcano there. Axel prepared himself for battle, creating a barrier just in front of the shops. Small, but big enough.

"Man, oh man. The new number two must have a thing for dragons. I just hope Sora and Danny'll have better luck than me."

0o0o0o0

God, how his side ached. How many times had Cid kicked him for saying the wrong thing, anyway? He had lost count a while ago. Countless times he had attempted telling the group he was on their side, he had long discovered Naxan had left, leaving it safe to tell them the truth instead of threatening them.

"Just hear me out! I'm with-" Another shurikan embedded itself in the wall, courtasy of the ninja girl he had learned was called 'Yuffie'. He had also learned the book she had been reading earlier was a history of her home, Wutai.

Vonnix sighed, slumping down against the wall. If he tried to escape, he would get pummeled. If he tried to explain his true goal, or even speak at all, he would _still_ get pummeled. By _both_ sides.

"Of _course_ Nex sends me here. The least he coulda done was checked to make sure I was free of missions. But no, _he_ had to make it _imperative_ I came here with Naxan trailing me." Vonnix was aware of somebody listening to him, but ignored them. He was ranting angrily. No time for complaining about people listening in on him. "And _what_ did that get me? A hostage situation and continuous kicks in my side. Not to mention that whether I tell them or not, I'll still get destroyed. By either them, or the Organization. Yeah Nex, thank's alot!" He yelled, aware of the male named Leon watching him.

"What is it you've been trying to tell us?" Leon asked him. Vonnix slumped further.

"Like you guys care. If I'm right, you just want me to be quiet." Vonnix said, using his head to gesture at the numerous shurikan embedded in the wall. Leon chuckled.

"That's just Yuffie. I'd like to know. I have a feeling that the sides you and Axel are on are the same. Or pretty darn close to it." Leon said, leaning on the wall Vonnix was leaning against. Vonnix sighed, looking toward the gunblade-weilding male.

"The thing is, not everyone in the organization wanted to be there.Xemnas is a sort of power-freak, and any human-form nobodies have to be on his side, according to him. Something about rebellion. Anyway, Nexidal, a friend of mine, I guess you could say, helped organize just that: A rebellion. Of course, then Axel came along and while we tried to get him on our side, (even though I think he already was) then somehow Xemnas found out about us, and turn all of our guys bad again. So now it's just me and Nex." Leon stood up straight, curiosity in his voice as he spoke.

"Then why did you attack Cid and Danny?" Vonnix chuckled nervously.

"I'm, uh... I'm not very good at stealth. Naxan caught me trying to find you guys in the marketplace, and told me to take Sora down. She kept watching me, cause she suspected something. So I couldn't risk her finding out that I wasn't sided fully with Xemnas. I acted the way I did earlier because I wasn't sure if she was still watching." Leon smiled slightly.

"Alright. I'll give you a bit of leash. But you aren't to leave Cid's place, got it?" Vonnix nodded, attempting to stand up, grunting as Leon hauled him to his feet. The gunweilder, in one rapid movement, untied the white-materia infused cloth from around Vonnix's torso, to around his hands in such a way that he couldn't move them. Vonnix sighed. He should have expected that. They still had no reason to trust him.

Oh, well. at least he could move now. In the corner, Vonnix could see that Sam girl fiddling with a potted plant, making it grow, shrink back into a seed, or grow so big that it's pot almost broke, the roots pouring over the top when the pot refused to hold them any longer. Beside her was Aerith and Yuffie, both watching with interest. Cid was at a laptop in the corner, while Leon had just ran over the the bigger PC that Cid had been using a little while ago. The look on his face told Vonnix that something bad was happening.

"Theres trouble in the Marketplace. Theres a boss there, and Axels fighting it alone." Vonnix shook his head. He couldn't have heard right.

"D-did you say... Axel?" Leon glanced over to Vonnix.

"Yeah. He apparantly helped save Soras life a while ago, in a place called Betwixt and Between. Sacrificed himself to do it. That's why Sora trusts him so much. And because Sora trusts him, so do we." Leon turned to his friends. "C'mon, we got work to do." Sam jumped up.

"Mind if I come? I can't stand being no use. Plus, I could help, with these powers." Leon seemed to think the idea over, slowly giving his answer, as if he wasn't yet fully sure.

"...Okay... But be careful. I'm sure Danny-" But Sam cut him off.

"Wouldn't want me to get hurt, I know. I'm the girlfriend of a superhero, what do you think I expect?" Leon smiled before turning to the others.

"Move out." And with that, everyone was running to the marketplace. Except Cid. He was still on his laptop, typing furiously. Likely he was trying to get the towns old defece system back up. He had learned that it had been shut off after once the heartless had disappeared. Now that they were back, it needed to be online.

Vonnix sighed again.

Why was it always him that got into these sorts of situations?

0o0o0o0

He had no idea where he was. It was a quaint little town of some sort that never seemed to leave twilight. Always, an orange glow illuminated the town. He wouldn't even be able to tell what the time was, if not for the huge clock tower that was seeable from almost everywhere. He had arrived there courtasy of the male called Nexidal, who had said Sora might end up going there later, as it was the one world suspended directly between the light and the dark.

Vlad 'Plasmius' Masters was not happy about his involvement in Dannys new adventure. He was nowere close to the limelight, while Daniel and his new friend where going everywhere. All across the realm. even to the world that bordered the realm of darkness itself.  
Yes, Vlad knew about all these things. He had known for a rather long time. In fact, he had come close many times to telling Daniel about his keyblade heritage. But the boy was always doing something somewhere else. So eventually he gave up trying to inform the boy, he could find out for himself. And now that he had done just that, Vlad was wishing it had never happened. How the gods hated him.

"Hey sir!" Yelled out a young boy that Vlad had seen around before. Messy, pale yellow hair and camo cargo pants. Vlad turned to him.

"Yes?" The boy seemed impatient, his energy causing him to fidget. He looked as if he was about to run off at a moments notice.

"You seen a guy named Sora around here? Spikey brown hair, big yellow shoes and really weird clothes colored mainly black? With lots of belts an' zippers?" Vlad thought. He had seen a boy matching that description hanging out with Danny back on the World That Never Was.

"I believe I _have_ seen the boy you're looking for, but not here." Vlad chuckled as the boy in front of him sighed.

"Aw, man... Must've just missed him. D'you remember where he was?" Vlad nodded.

"A place called the 'World that Never Was'. Have you heard of it?" Vlad was surprised when the boy nodded.

"Yeah. Sora told us about his adventures a while ago. Then he just up and left. Course, he does that alot, so it didn't bother us (Being me and my friends), but we kinda hoped he was still around." Vlad smiled warmly. It sounded like this boy was having the same kind of trouble he himself had.

"I understand. He was, however, with a... friend... of mine. Perhaps we can search together?" The boy smiled, shaking his head.

"That's alright. I can wait. He'll come back at some point. But if you see him, tell him Hayner and the gang says hi!" He said, before running down a nearby allyway.

"Right. _Hayner_. I'll remember that. Dont't you worry." He said to himself. Vlad sighed as he looked at the Clocktower. It had halted completely, and the tower never stopped telling time for anything, no matter what.

"Let me guess... Clockwork?" Vlad said loudly. At once the mentioned ghost appeared before him, drifting lazyly out of a clock-like portal.

"You called?" Vlad crossed his arms. He had no need to speak. The time master was just that: A time master. Reading minds was his specialty.

"I need your help." Vlad scoffed. The time master needed his help? Ironic. "This is not a laughable area, believe me. Something of dire importance and danger is happening as we speak, and I can do nothing to stop it." Vlad raised an eyebrow. Really, now? "It is about Danny, in a way. His alternate universe self, to be specific." This peaked Vlads interest. An alternate Danny? The possibilities... "It's not what you think. This Danny is inhuman, pure ghost, and bears no remorse or humanity, along with a grudge to everyone and everything he meets. He is also ten years older than the Danny you know, and will stop at nothing to destroy everything in his path. That includes you." Vlad gulped. That didn't sound like Daniel at all. But then, it was alternate universe.

"So, what is it that you need my help with?" Clockwork floated forward.

"I need you to retrieve Danny for me. Bring his new friends if you have to. He will refuse, so just tell him this: The other future wants out, and the farther away Daniel goes from it, the stronger it becomes. He will understand." Vlad chuckled. Clockwork always liked to speak in riddles.

"Alright. Care to tell me where he is?" Clockwork, who was just about to enter a portal, stopped, turning his cloaked head back to the elder halfa.

"He is on a world called Atlantica. I'd advise you to wait for him here. He is busy with a major battle, and the Hollow Garden is busy with the same. He will come here eventually. And also..." Clockwork turned to Vlad fully. "Guidance is weakening. Danny needs to figure out what to do quickly. You know what will happen if he doesn't." And with that, Clockwork floated through the portal. Vlad sighed.

It would be a while before he lived _this_ 'adventure' down.

* * *

So ends chapter 14.

Too lazy to write... anything, so I'll just say goodbye now.

See you people.

-San


	15. Boss battle, and help coming to rescue!

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix?

Balthier, Vaan, Fran © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM?

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ???

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney (feels stupid)

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ??? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ???

**Authors notes:** It's getting real hard to keep track of all these people... T-T

This takes place AFTER KH2, so Ariel ain't in Atlantica. Foo on you. That in turn means there will likely be very little or no king Triton.

I think it's become apparant that I like dragons. If you have any complaints, too bad. I don't care about complaining people.

* * *

A green blast of ectoplasm and boiling sea water mixed together exploded in a burst of the aformentioned color as it hit the Rayquaza look-alike twisting around in front of us. It was myself, Edward, Sora and Riku in direct offence while the others -Kairi, Chiro, Rodney and Balthier- dealt in _sideline_ offence. Chiro threw threw his thunderbolt-spear-things, Balthier was somehow managing to use _another_ gun of his to shoot blasts of yellow-colored light, Rodney pretty much just threw out stratigic advise and possible weak spots -He apparantly was no good at fighting. At all.- and Kairi healed the people who needed to be. I, obviously, used my powers as attacks, -save for my cryokinesis. Ice power plus water surrounding me in every direction possible equals one very bad idea.- Sora and Riku used magic, physical attacks and whatever, and Edward seemed to lump himself off to the side, using a power that seemed unique to his world, transforming his hand into a scale-patterned blade while going in and attacking the spots Rodney pointed out as possible weak areas. 

Behind me, Rodney yelled out more of his not-so-helpful-right-now advice.

"Danny! When it swings it's tail toward you, jump and dodge! I think it has a weak spot in the tail!" He said. I scoffed at him.

"How exactly do you expect me to jump when I have a tail?!" I yelled back at him angerily, dodging a swipe from one of the beasts claws.

"I don't know- Swim upwards?!" I turned to yell at him, but was immediatly cut off as a blast of silver energy collided with my chest, forcing me bacwards. I hit a rocky wall, and felt a sharp pain slice my back. I knew at once I was cut, and bleeding.  
But before I could do anything about it, semi-visible green vines swirled around me, and I felt better. Much better, in fact, then I had in months. Damn. I'd have to figure out how to use magic soon.

I turned, again, to Rodney.

"Stop helping!" The scientist huffed at my comment, resuming his examination of the great beast before him.

I sighed, turning as well, back toward the Rayquaza-look-alike. Before I could do anything to attack, however, Sora bolted forward, an orange-colored orb charging on the tip of his keyblade. I knew at once he was readying himself to use the magic he called 'fire'. Aptly named, as fire was the very element the same-named spell produced.

Our party watched -all of us still fighting, though- as Sora sent a blast of flame -how he managed fire underwater, I'll never know- toward the Rayquaza look-alike. When it hit the dragon-nobody, we all covered our ears when it produced a deafening howl.

"Um... It's weak against fire...!" Yelled out Rodney. Nobody replied to his exclaimation. In front of us all, Sora continued blasting it with his conjured flames, causing it to squirm and writhe in pain. But before the brunette could deal the final blow, Rodney called out, gaining everyones attention.

"I think we have a problem!" Oh dear. As if we didn't have enough problems.

"I just know I'll regret asking, but what is this 'problem'?" Rodney didn't respond, only pointed into the distance, where we all looked to see a thick line of black. Sora paled, and the rest of us grimaced.

"Oh, crap. Just as we start to win, too."I said, charging up a pair of ectobeams in my hands as the mass of what we knew were Heartless swam ever-closer.

0o0o0o0

He had not expected the reconstruction gang to come. Heck, he hadn't expected help in general to come. Yet, here he was, Leon, Yuffie and Aerith at his side, helping him defeat the Volvagia nobody. Luckly, Volvagia was a fire-element. Axel was a fire-weilder. That made the fight much easier. Whenever Volvagia sent a jet of flame at someone, Axel would simpley reach his hand out, call the fire over to himself, and dissapate it. The dragon was a very bad choice, and the plan must not have been very well-thought out. Unless...

"This might be a distraction!" Axel yelled out, the thought his idea implied sending chills down the groups spines.

"We need to get rid of this thing, and fast. If this nobody is just here to distract us, Danny and the others might be in danger." Leon called. Beside him, Aerith nodded.

"But how can we get rid of it in time?" She said softly, yet strongly.

"Easy: The nobody is fire. What counter-acts Flame?" Yuffie asked. Axel chuckled, tossing one of his chakrams in the direction of a water tower almost directly above the flame-beast. The tower creaked, almost seeming to buckle where the chakram had hit it, until the weakened metal gave out, sending gallons of water cascading upon the unsuspecting nobody. It seemed to shreik in pain, and when the group moved in through steam that had come about from water hitting the beasts firey body, it wasn't there. Only a few bones that rapidly melted away into nothingness.

"Axel, you're gonna be the one cleaning this up later. But right now, we gotta get to Danny and Sora." Leon said, leaning his gunblade on his shoulder.

"Um, excuse me, but I'm pretty sure we don't know where they are." Yuffie said. Axel sighed.

"You're forgetten' who you have with you. I can sense the Heartless, remember. But only if they're in strong numbers, now. I can't track them all willy-nilly anymore." Leon raised an eyebrow.

"What happened that made it so you can't?" Axel gave Leon a sly look.

"Let's just say it's a matter of the _heart_." Leon's eyebrows shot up, and for a split-second, he looked shocked, surprised, happy and amazed all at once. But it quickly passed, and Axel turned away from the group, a look of consentration visible on his face, the others catching the look for a split second.

"It's... Atlantica." Axel said, after a few minutes of silence.

"Are you sure?" Leon asked, worry in his voice. Axel turned to the male, a serious look plastered on his face. It held absolutely no humor of happiness.

"Positive. Not even a Dusk could miss a gathering of Darkness as thick as whats gathered there." Leon grimaced. If _Axel_ wasn't joking around, it couldn't be good. It would have to be near to hopeless for him to abandon jokery.

"Let's move out, then. We can't risk getting there too late and losing both Danny and Sora. Plus, they went after Riku, and who knows if they met up with anyone else along the way." He didn't need to say any more. The four of them ran through the streets, not stopping until they reached the Gummi-hangar. Once there, they jumped into A gummi ship, one of the ones Sora had pointed out to Danny, the Deathguise.

Almost at once they lifted up off the ground, aimed directly toward the floating mass of water that was Atlantica.

"I can only hope we aren't too late." Leon muttered, as they blasted through space. Everyone silently agreed. Losing two keybearers and one boy who seemed like a keybearer-in-training would not be good.

They didn't know how right they where.

* * *

Feh. Gonna be a little slow uploading chapters for a little while. inspiration for this is coming slowly.

too tired to write anything else, or to fix up any grammatical errors. See-ya.

-Yena


	16. Sacrifice

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix?

Balthier, Vaan, Fran © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM?

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ???

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney (feels stupid)

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ??? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ???

**Authors notes:** It's getting real hard to keep track of all these people... T-T

This takes place AFTER KH2, so Ariel ain't in Atlantica. Foo on you. That in turn means there will likely be very little or no king Triton.

I think it's become apparant that I like dragons. If you have any complaints, too bad. I don't care about complaining people.

Wow, this much action this quick into the story...?

* * *

"I think you're doing it wrong." 

"Shut up."

"I still think you're doing it wrong."

"Ah built it, Ah kin' work it!"

"Fine. But I still say you're doing it wrong."

Cid sighed as he turned toward the captive hovering over his shoulder, aggravating him with everything he did. He had been quiet at first, only watching as Cid tryed to restart the old defence system. Now, however, he was hellbent on nitpicking everything Cid did to get it up and running. Or it seemed that way at least. The nobody seemed to think that Cid was doing something wrong, as the system refused, plain and simple, to start up again. And honestly...

Cid thought he was doing something wrong, too. He just didn't want to admit that the nobody was right.  
The machine in front of him beeped again, telling him it couldn't locate the specified file. Behind him, Vonnix chuckled.

"C'mon... I know what to do. Lemme try." Cid laughed dryly.

"ah'm not gonna let you on this here machine. Lord know's what you'll do to 'er." The nobody chuckled as he leaned on a wall.

"I'll fnd what you're trying to find." Cid frowned again.

"No!" And with that, Cid turned back to his computer, occationally looking toward a laptop next to him. Vonnix sighed as he wandered away from the determined man. It was obvious he still held no trust toward the metalic-skinned nobody.

"Oh, well." He said quietly, and with a smile on his face. "Guess I'll have to do this the hard way." He began to mutter under his breath, uttering a series of strange words before a book appeared on the table before him. Smiling, he began to flip through it, stopping on a particular page that read in a strange language only he could read. Again he started reading the odd words, closing his eyes as he consentrated on making the computer do what Cid wanted it to. After a few minutes, he stopped, grinning when Cid yelled out in surprise.

"Wha' the hell...?!" He yelled. False surprise plastered on his face, Vonnix ran over, pretending he had no idea what was going on as the demonic-looking book faded into nothing before it could be noticed.

"What happened?" Vonnix asked, staring at the screen of the rapidly working computer.

"It jus' up and started fixin' things! Namely, the very file ah was lookin' fer!" Cid yelled, a grin seeping onto his face. He stared with pride at the computer screen as it beeped twice, a window opening telling whomever was reading that the defence system was readying itself for activation.

"Ah told'ja ah'ed be able ta do it!" As he walked toward the window, Vonnix chuckled to himself. Cid wouldn't be able to tell that the computer had been manipulated. And Vonnix would just let the man believe whatever he wanted to.

It was the first step to gaining trust. Never getting the person peeved at you, and helping them out whether they knew it or not. At least, to him it was.

0o0o0o0

I had almost had it. Not 'had it' as in I was getting pissed off, but 'had it' as in, 'a little bit longer and I'm gonna die' had it. No reinforcements, our entire party fighting for their lives, and one part-ghost teenager fighting to keep a shield up, protecting said party from previously mentioned enemies. The Heartless attacking us where only 'Shadows', So I knew I'd be able to last a while against them, But I couldn't risk using my wail to beat them. Who knew if more where coming? Plus, there was Ray-wannabe back behind us a bit just waiting for my shield to falter.

"We're so screwed..." I heard Rodney say. I didn't respond. My mind in it's entirety was completely wrapped and around keeping the shield up. I don't recall ever being so focused on one thing my entire life up until now. Wow. If only I could've put this much effort into my grades.

Suddenly, a voice broke partially through my consentration. It was Sora.

"Danny, the Dragon-nobody is one shot from my keyblade away from being destroyed. I'm going to charge up my keyblade for the final shot." I didn't reply, as I knew on instinct that there was more. "But, you see... You're gonna haf'ta get rid of this Reflega shield to do it..." I cocked an eyebrow. What the crap was 'Reflega'? Whatever. I nodded, and Sora began charging his keyblade, a blue light begining to emanate from it's tip. As well, a mass of coral directly behind the Ray-wannabe began to glow. Me, Sora, Riku and Kairi all gasped. I wasn't as sure as the others as to what the thing was, but the other three knew exactly.

"A keyhole..." Riku muttered.

"Okay everyone. Get ready to defend yourselves!" I yelled out, attempting to charge my hands up with ectobeams whilst keeping the shield up until Sora told me to lower it. Slowly, the blue light of both Sora's keyblade and the oddly-shaped mass of coral began to grow. Sora looked me in the eye, and I knew at once what he wanted me to do.

"Now!" I lowered my shield, and all hell broke loose. Honestly, the only things I recall is Ray-wannabe getting impailed by the blue beam that shot out of Soras keyblade, and the glow of the coral remaining, even after the nobody had dissappeared. Attacks were being flung everywhere, and I'd no idea what was going on. I knew, however, that something bad had happened, as Sora was muttering something to himself, and then said it loud enough for everyone to hear.

"It didn't lock!" Sora yelled. Distress was clear as day in his voice. Evidently, this didn't happen often.

"So, whatta we do?" I yelled back at him. Riku replied to my question.

"Well, if Kingdom Key didn't work, maybe you can lock it. If you're a keyblade, it's worth a shot!" I nodded, turning myelf intangible as I swam through hordes of heartless trying to attack me, finally reaching the glowing mass of coral that outlined a keyhole-shape. My mind almost blank from panic, I instinctively slammed my left hand onto the keyhole-shape, watching as my hand glowed the same blue as Soras keyblade had. A 'click' sound reverberated through the area, and the heartless -every single one of them- seemed to have a sort of seisure. Taking this as a chance to get off this world, I turned, swimming toward my party while yelling at them.

"C'mon! We gotta go, NOW!" Nobody questioned me. We all began to rapidly swim toward the surface of the water. WE expected the heartless below us to follow. We expected part, if not all, of Org. XIII to show up, preventing our escape. None of this happened. The heartless seemed to use portals to leave Atlantica, and I could tell by the look in Sora's eyes that it wasn't a good omen. Still, nobody spoke, even as white light engulfed us.

---

I opened my eyes to be greeted by the inside of a rather crowed gummi ship. Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, Axel, and my own party all were visible. Beside me, Sora opened his mouth, about to speak, only to have Leon cut him off.

"The Heartless are massing up, we won't be able to fend them off. Something is centering them, and we don't know what it is. Not even Axel knows." He said, gesturing toward the redhaired pyromaniac. "The Highwind is being pulled along behind us, and we think we know a way to get rid of the thing that the Heartless are gathering around." Sora cut Leon off before he could say another word.

"How do you know this thing is dangerous?" Leon gave Sora a stare that made even my spine tingle.

"Because, it's a little under half the size of Xemnas's dragon-ship, and almost three times as armed, according to the scans we did. We need to get rid of it before it can attack us. Or anything else for that matter. We plan to detonate your Highwind ship at it's center." Sora paled, as did I. We both knew where this was going. "However..." Sora grimaced.

"'However' what?"

"The Highwind wasn't equipped with an Auto-pilot." Sora immediatly began yelling.

"No! I know what you're saying, there has to be another way!" Leon simply shook his head. I turned to Riku. I could tell he was thinking of something, and the look on his face told me all I needed to know. I watched and listened as the events played out. I wouldn't interrupt.

"I'll do it." Sora's head whipped over to look at his friend.

"What?! No! Riku, don't! You don't have to!" Riku placed a hand on his friends shoulder. Sora slumped. I, however, just cocked an eyebrow. These guys had awsome communication skills.

"I'll fly the Highwind into the enemy ships center, and detonate it from there." He said to Leon. Leon closed his eyes, looking at the ground. Riku turned to me, and I knew from the look in his eyes that he wanted me to hold his brown-haired friend back as he boarded the ship pulling along behind us. I did so without question, watching as Riku was engulfed by a white light. Soon, the Highwind appeared in front of us, and a transmission came through on one of our ships many monitors.

"You're sure this ship'll be enough?" Leon nodded.

"Yeah. We equipped it with extra explosives we obtained from a nearby world. It should even produce a good enough aftershock to destroy most of the heartless ships surrounding the enemy." Riku nodded.

" Okay..." Riku, through the monitor, looked at Sora. "Sora?" Sora looked up at his friend.

"Yeah?" His voice sounded strained.

"...I'm sorry." Suddenly, the transmission cut off, and The Highwind blasted off toward the ships I had just noticed in the distance. We all watched as the ship zoomed off into the distance, it's speed seemeding to double as the ship we where on began it's flight further away from the gathering of ships.

"I'm going to use the warp drive." Leon said, as the ship began to charge.

The last thing was saw before the Deathguise jumping into warp mode was a huge explosion, accompanied by millions of smaller explosions going out from it in every direction. I didn't need to check the scanners to know that our ship-based enemy was gone. Nor did I need it to ccheck and see if the Highwind, by some fluke of chance, managed to escape unharmed. I couldn't feel Riku's aura.

He was gone.

* * *

Dun dun _duuuuuuuun_! 

Wowwie! Never have I written so much action in one chapter before.

And yes, Riku is dead. As in, never coming back. Cause I never really enjoyed Riku much anyway. He's too much of an emo.

Muahahahahahahaha!

(So ends chapter 16)

-Yena


	17. Recovery

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix?

Balthier, Vaan, Fran © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay, Atlantis © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ???

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney (feels stupid)

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ??? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ???

**Authors notes:**

Sorry for the slow update. I promise, though, that soon, the chappies will be flying by!

Yay Sora angst! Also, yay, random Danny-angst!

**Review Replies:**

_Horselvr4evr123_: Thank you! I just felt the need for a little drama. And drama, I have instilled. Muahahahahahaha... Theres more to come. Much more... -Evilgrin-

_Syuveil:_ Heheheh... Don't be too sure. I might have lied about his death. And maybe Kairi and Sam _will_ have a bigger role. I need more from them, anyway. Hopefully I'll be able to slowly pick off -not kill! Send back home- the huge party number as we trot through the chapters.

_Twilight101:_ Heyheyhey! Don't be so quick to jump the gun. Danny's power-sense type thing doesn't reach to the four courners of the entire realm. (If there are even corners.) Cause theres alot of realm, y'know. There's many more chapters to come, maybe even a sequal. Thats alot of still-developing plot to run through...

* * *

All through the flight back to Radiant Garden, we occupied ourselves with small tasks, such as cleaning or... Something. I helped Sam with her new plant powers, which both of us hoped wouldn't force her back into her Plant-Sam self. Neither of us wanted that. But either way, If she was to have powers, she'ed need to be able to control them. 

Sora kept mostly to himself, angsting in a corner of the ship, watching the stars and worlds pass us by.

It wasn't very long before we landed back on Radiant garden. Leon almost had to force Sora up, and kept a hand on the boys shoulder. Sora may have been a hero, but he was still young. Likely he hadn't experianced Death yet.

Man, did he have alot to learn.

Once we arrived at Cids place, we were greeted by way of angry yells. Directed_ toward_ us.

"You blew up Highwind?! You know how long it took me to build 'er? She was mah first!" He turned toward Sora, about to chastise him, then saw the pain filtering through his eyes, and calmed himself down. He looked over at Leon. "What happened? I know Sora can't be _that _upset about losin' a ship..." He looked around, finaly noticing Rikus absense. "... Don' tell me... Riku-" But before he could finish himself, Leon put a hand over Cids mouth, nodding. But the simple mention of the boys name sent tears down the brunettes face, and bolting out the door into Radiant garden, directed toward the jagged cliffsides near where Sora had helped defeat the Heartless-Nobody army.

Cid slumped slightly as the door swung openly on it's hinges.

"Man, ah'm sorry. Mebbe ah should go get 'im...?" Leon placed a hand on Cids shoulder, as Kairi turned to me. Only me, not the others.

"We should follow him. You don't know Sora that well, he's not a depression kind of guy. When-" But I cut her off, raising my hand to tell her to shush.

"Let me guess. When Sora get's sad, he may as well be part of the darkness itself...?" Kairi's eyes widened slightly at my metaphor, but nodded all the same.

"I think I know where he's gone to. It's the farthest place from the town as possible. He goes there often when he wants to think. Just follow me." I nodded, running behind her as we bolted down pathways through the town and out into the jagged cliffside.

At some point we ran through some ruins, and through a crystal-filled cave. We didn't stop, however, and eventually we found ourselves standing on a slab of rock jutting out of the cliffside, viewing the broad expance of the rest of this particular world, and a giant trench cutting the landscape. All things considered, it was a rather beautiful place. But we hadn't come to see the sights. In front of us was the very boy we were looking for, strangely enough, sparring hand-to-hand with a Dusk. I could tell that Sora was venting, but also trying to not destroy the beast, which was likely why he wasn't using his keyblade.

"Sora!" Kairi yelled, worry blatant in her voice. I could tell she cared deeply for her brown-haired friend, and likely the two had grown up together, like myself, Tucker and Sam. I suddenly began to wonder how Sams parent's were coping with the sudden and inexplicable dissappearance of her daughter. But back to reality.

Sora made no movement. Oddly enough, neither did the Dusk.

"Kairi, I don't think either of them have yet realized they have company." I said. Kairi sighed, turning to me.

"He's never been like this before..." I chuckled softly.

"He's never faced death like this before. I have, though..." Kairi gasped at me slightly, turning away from Sora, and back to me.

"You've had a friend die...?" She asked softly. I chuckled at her.

"Sort of. At one point, back in Amity Park, I wound up in my future, where I had been... corrupted and turned evil by the dark heart of an enemy of mine, you could say. It was a future in which my two closest friends, my teacher, my sister and my parents had all died in an explosion caused by me cheating on a major test at school." I paused for breath. "Needless to say, me discovering that let me figure out what I was going to do wrong, and the evil version of myself refused to let me change the past. In the end, The explosion still happened, but a friend of mine rescued them. You're gonna think it's different, cause they all lived in the end, but because the two timelines followed each other so closely at that particular point, I have two sets of memories. One where they all died, and I went to live with my enemy, and another, the real ones that happened in this timeline." Kairi made a sad sort of noise.

"That's awful. It's gotta be hard living with two sets of memories..." I nodded.

"It is. Sometimes, when I'm alone, I almost start to beleive that they really are dead. But-" I was cut off as the brunette in front of us spoke up.

"Why are you guys here?" He sounded sad, and like he wanted to be left alone. I sighed at him.

"We're here because you're here, you angst-ridden dolt." Kairi gave me a look, one that I easily shook off. "Yes. Riku died. Physically, he doesn't exist. Gone, kaput, no more, erased from this plane of existance." In front of us both, Sora gave the Dusk one final punch in it's gut, and it vanished. The brunette had a few tears running down his face, I could see, and he soon collapsed onto the ground in a strange sitting position. I held Kairi back as she attempted to run up to him. "He needs this." I whispered to her. She gave me another strange look, but it held understanding. I turned back to Sora.  
"Riku gave his life to save us. He saves your butt, and you repay him by turning into an emo kid? Some friend you are." It hurt to insult him, and I knew Kairi hated seeing a friend insult him, but we both understood what I was doing. In front of us though, Sora just continued to stare at the ground. What I said next I hadn't even realized that a similar thing had been said by Riku.

"I mean, you're giving up? Already? Come on, Sora! We both know you're stronger than that!" He looked at me. I turned to see Kairi staring at me as well. "What?" Sora spoke fist, softly.

"Riku said something like that once." He stood up. "But you're right. You, and Kairi, and Riku, too. I shouldn't be moping around when there're worlds to be saved." I grinned. That's a good boy.

"Now come on. We need to get back to the town before night falls." I turned toward the cliffside, but then turned to look at Sora. "It's alright to be sad about a friends death. Just, next time, try to deal with it beside a friend. You're not the only one sad about his death." I flinched as a flash of something sparked through my mind. It had felt like a pinch of Rikus aura. I chuckled to myself. Probably just a figment of my imagination. Riku had died, after all.

I breathed out, consentrating as I split myself into two. My clone grasped Kairi, much to Sora's obvious jealousy, and I held Sora, the same way I had when I was flying to the Gummi Ship Hanger.

Before long, we stood in front of the door to Cids house. However, we hadn't even so much as touched the door before it slammed open, a peeved-yet excited-looking Cid glaring at us for a second before pulling us in.

"'Bout time yeh got here!" I cocked an eyebrow.

"Why so excited?" Leon smiled as he walked over to us. He opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Vonnix.

"The Committee discovered three new worlds!" Leon glared at the black-clad man.

"Yes, we did discover three new worlds. And before you ask, they're already programmed into your ship." I stared at the man in front of me.

"'Our ship'? Our ship got blown up." Leon smile, as did Cid.

"Yeah, But ah made yeh a new one!" I scoffed lightly.

"That quickly?" Cid chuckled, and nodded.

"Yep. Soon as I heard you got the Highwind blown up, I got the Moogles to help me make a new ship for yeh. Follow me." We -being our entire party- quickly followed as Cid led us into a small docking bay. Inside it was something that resembled a mixture of the Fenton RV's Jet-mode, a sort of flying saucer, and a varied mixture of most of the ships in the old Hanger a ways away. It was rather big, the coloration matching my ghost forms. It looked amazing.

"She's fer you, Danny. Sora, Ah'll get yours done. Migh' take a while, tho'." I grinned, stepping inside the ships open doors.

The Control deck was nothing special, reminding me of the Deathguise. But enough of discription. I sat in the main chair, hoping to god that I knew how to fly this thing. Sora helped me as we put in the coordinates to the first of our three new worlds. Before me, a holographic screen opened, Cids face on it.

"Ah forgot to tell ya! Her name is the Hartman. Like it?" I grinned, nodding.

"Yeah. It fits." Cid grinned back at me, giving me a thumbs up before cutting out.

I turned to the group of people that made up our party as the as-of-yet unamed ship blasted off into the unknown vastness of the realm of kingdom hearts. The first world in our line up...

"Okay guys, this ones called..." I glanced at the list displayed on a screen before me. "Atlantis!" As I turned back to the screen and consentrated on flying, Sora; on blasting away the Heartless ships following us, we were all deafened by Rodneys sudden yell.

"The next world is whaaat?!"

* * *

Heheheh... Yep. To Atlantis they go. Don't mix it up with atlantica, this is the SGA crossover beginning. 

Might be a little bit before you get it, though. Gotta write it with my sis, Gremblin. I can't write SGA for crap.

-Yena


	18. The Meeting

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, 'Possesser' Heartless © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him/them. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Xalara, Mendirax, Naxan, Erradexn, 'Camview' Nobody © Myself.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix?

Balthier, Vaan, Fran © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay, Atlantis © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ???

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney (feels stupid)

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ??? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ???

**Authors notes:** No notes for you. Simply put, this chapter is catching up on what's going on back with Org. XIII. So it's pretty much filler.

Whoops. I made a mistake last chapter. Heh, see if you can't point it out.

**NOTICE!!!**

I'm taking entries for the remaining Organization XIII members. I'm stuck on members, and can't think of any more for the life of me. You'll also get credit. Obviously. I think there are three open slots avaliable.

The only requirements are that his or her name have an 'X' in it, and have a unique weapon. Like how Axel has his Chakrams, or Demyx's Sitar, or Xemnas's Lightsabres. Otherwise, I don't give a crap what you do to them. Just don't make them too god-moddy. They have to have _some_ sort of weakness Danny and friends can exploit.

* * *

_-Somewhere in The Castle That Never Was-_

"I can't beleive this!"

"Calm down, Erradexn."

"Calm down? How can I calm down knowing that those two keyblader dorks took off unharmed with our entire mess of captives and sealed a Keyhole; again without damage?"

"They weren't that important anyway. We retrevied what we wanted from them. And did you forget? Not everything went as right as rain for Danny and Sora."

"What're you talking about, Naxan? They busted up Superiors ship! Again!"

"True. That _was_ an unfortunate loss on our part. But still. They lost something just as, if not more important."

"What? What'd they lose?"

"They lost that Llexam kid that was hiding in our Castle."

"Who cares? They didn't know 'im that well anyway."

"Not true. Llexam was, in fact, the ex-shadow-weilder Riku."

Deep in the Castle That Never Was, Organization Thirteen -or what remained of it- stood grouped around a pedastal that housed a Possesser-Heartless-looking ball of shadows. This ball of darkness was actually what remained of their once-grand leader, Xemnas. He couldn't move, and if attacked, likely wouldn't be able to rightly defend himself.

That's not to say he was weak, or wouldn't have been expecting such an attack, but unfortunately taking a human shape required energy. And Xemnas had used his a while ago, when he had captured Danny. He hadn't meant to fade away, either. It was so unforunate that he had, though. It would've been so much fun fighting the two children trapped in his lab.

"Superior-man, yes yes? You call, you did. Reason? What's the reason, me-lordy?" One of the Organization members asked rather quickly. Naxan spoke up first.

"We're here because we seem to be rapidly declining in numbers, in case you haven't noticed. And the committee on the side of Light seems to be gaining. They stand strong at fourteen in total. We only have ten, likely to change at some point due to a few members sent out to a few varying worlds." Next, the ball of shadow they stood grouped around spoke._ Xemnas_, spoke.

'_I'd like to know why you are so incapable of keeping a teenager under check, Naxan._' He said, the as-of-yet nameless Org. member that had spoke up a while ago shivering with delight beside Naxan.

"Bad girly. Bad, bad bad. In-capable. impotent, inadequate, incompetent, ineffective, insufficient."

"Shut up, Xalara!" Naxan snapped. The giggling member only summoned up his weapons; a pair of spike-tipped whips, both a dull metallic magenta in color. Naxan did the same, a large, black pitchfork appearing in her hands. Electricity swirled around it, originating from a red gem inset into the part where the three points connected.

'_Calm down, you two. Fighting amongst yourselves solves nothing. In order to be successful we have to cooperate._' Naxan sighed as she let her weapon fade into shadows.

"You're right. It's just, Xalara always seems to get on my nerves, Sir." Xemnas chuckled.

'_I should think you able to ignore him. After all, he can't help the way he is._'

"Damn that keybrat!" Yelled Erradexn. All eyes looked to him. The blue-haired man was gazing into a small handheld moniter of sorts. On the other end, they knew, was a Nobody. It acted like a walkie-talkie mixed with a security camera, displaying whatever was on the other end. "He busted up my Camview!" He threw the device into the ground, and only grumbled as it dissappeared into a small burst of white light.

"What happened?" Naxan asked.

"What'd you mean? He busted my Camview!" Naxan sighed.

"I know that. Before it was 'busted', what had happened?"

"Well, I was watching Balance talk with somebody on a view-monitor-"

"Screen." Corrected the member known as Nexidal, who remained inert with his hands crossed behind his back.

"The View-screen, then. I was watching them talk to this redhead, called herself Weir. 'Lizabeth Weir. The guy who called himself Rodney told her to let them land, and practically screamed for them to not shoot." Naxan tilted her head to one side slightly.

"Anything else?" Erradexn nodded.

"Yeah. Something about our guys; the Heartless, and something called the Wraith. And some Micheal dude. They where about to land when Sora spotted the Camview. And he completely destroyed it!" He was ignored as he flew into a rage about a rare Nobody he had used to make the 'Camview'.

_'I've heard of the Wraith called Micheal. He is an enemy of the Atlanteans, and will no doubt be a bait for heartless. That's likely the reason Sora and Balance are heading there, for the Heartless._' Xemnas said.

"I suppose you want one of us to go there, try to disrupt their plans?" If Xemnas could nod, he would've.

'_Yes. Though, I'd perfer it if you'd bring the two to a halt. Permanantly._' Naxan nodded.

"Yes Sir."

'_Xalara, you will travel to Atlantis. Naxan, go with him, just in case. You never know when a second body will be needed.'_

"Or a body in general." Nexidal muttered, only heard by Xalara, who chuckled at the mans poke towards their Leader not having a body himself. Nexidal was lucky Xemnas hadn't heard it himself. Lord knew what would happen if the Elder Nobody heard someone making fun of him.

"Yes, will, I will. Atlant-y I go, to there from here." As Xalara opened a portal, Naxan begrudgingly began to follow him through it. She disliked the man, so going to a world with only him for company - at least, company that didn't want to destroy her- would be too long, no matter how short it could turn out to be. But before she could enter the portal with the half-crazed Nobody at her side, Xemnas spoke up.

'_I want you to remember that this world is very much unlike any of the others. Their technology is advanced, and there is no doubt that they will be able to fight back if they need to. So be on your guard._' Naxan nodded, her face gaining an unnaturally stoic expression before she turned toward the open portal behind her. Xalara entered first, giggling away at some joke that only he seemed to be aware of.

'As per usual.' She thought, sighing as she followed him through the portal.

She had a bad feeling about this world, and an even worse feeling about these 'Wraith'. But if they where very much like what Superior had siad to her earlier, she wondered how powerful of a Nobody or Heartless they would make.

That in itself seemed to make the whole mission worthwhile.

* * *

Ooh, Wraith-nobody ideas from Xemnas's number two... That can't be good. Can't be good at all. Ah, but it make's for an interesting plot twist idea, hmm? 

Hopefully the crossover will start next chapter. It likely will, but It'll take a little while.

Anywhoo, I gotta go.

-Yena


	19. Atlantis

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker, Vlad © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, 'Possesser' Heartless, Darkside, Nobodies © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him/them. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Myxra © Twilight101

Kirex © Syuveil

Xyrzeh © Shining Zepher

Xalara, Mendirax, Naxan, Erradexn, Stanzix, Harintex, 'Camview' Nobody © Myself.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix(?)

Balthier, Vaan, Fran, 'Magicite' © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings (Magicite: Various Final fantasies) © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay, Atlantis, Wraith, Wier, Radek, Puddlejumpers © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ???

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney (feels stupid)

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ??? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ???

**Authors notes:** Just mainly filler to make the chapter look longer.

So comes Chapter nineteen. Wow. I never once expected to reach this far in my story. I thank you all (including my sister, Gremblin) for keeping me working on this story! Likely that I wouldn't have gotten anywhere if not for you all!

This chapter was loads of fun to write. Hopefully it will be fun to read, as well!

WOOT! Shining Zepher, Syuveil, and Twilight101, thank you for your characters! I will try to insert them as quickly as possible. If you three look above to the disclaimer -As big as it is-, they are already in it.

Also, I cannot remember what types of Magicite there were in FF-12. Any help is appreciated!

* * *

"So you're saying that those little black things we saw earlier are creatures made from pure darkness, and are set on finding this worlds 'keyhole', along with stealing the heart that the keyhole protects?" I sighed. how long had it been that we had been going over this, and she still seemed intent on squeezing every last bit of patience from us all. Me and Sora were sitting at an oddly shaped table, our party behind us. Balthier, I could tell, was immensely bored. I had a feeling that, with him being a sky pirate, would find a way to do something he wasn't supposed to. 

"Again, yes. They're called the Heartless. Also, there are a bunch called Nobodies, and both are led by a evil group called Organization Thirteen. Mostly they just operate in small bunches of weaker Nobodies or Heartless, but they make a habit of ammassing huge numbers and summoning up a creature called a boss when their mission gets threatened. Don't ask me what's up with the cliche name, I don't know." I folded my hands again, trying intently to immitate her position without her knowing. But, with her being a military diplomate, my attempts didn't get very far in being unnoticed. She changed her position before staring at me hard with an odd expression on her face. It didn't faze me though. After everything I had been through, not much would.

"What is it that you're trying to accomplish by doing that?" O well. It was fun while it lasted. I smirked slightly at her.

"Nothing. Just having fun. I am a teenager." I took a breath, then went back to serious. "So do you mind if we take a look around...? The Keyhole is actually really good at keeping itself hidden." Weir cocked an eyebrow.

"So you don't know where it is?" She asked. This time, Sora answered.

"No, not really. But if we look around, we might be able to make a guess as to where it might be hidden." Weir looked reluctant.

"How do I know I can trust you?" I smiled.

"Well, if we were bad we wouldn't be talking right now, and if it helps you any, feel free to take any precautions against us." She nodded,using a communication device -I assumed- to call some guard-military officer-dudes to our position. She told them that we had to look around the base for something of importance to both them and us.

---

So here I was, wandering around the 'City's' unexplored bowels with one of the more 'reliable troops of the SGA program' at my side. They were oddly jumpy, and while I -in ghost form- floated around corners and through locked doors by way of intangibility -which cause one particularly jumpy officer-dude to be freaked out, the poor guy-, they questioned who I was and how I got there. I enjoyed the small-talk, but after what I assumed to be an hour or so of answering questions about how I managed to pilot 'a ship that big' with 'only seven people' I had decided I had searched enough. Besides, everything here was bland and indifferent compared to the rest of the places I had explored. I turned to the team behind me, my ghostly tali flittering as if I was about to zoom off as fast as I could.

"Okay. Theres nothing here. Lets go back to the main room, or whatever it's called." I debated against using my intangibility to fly through the walls. It would be much quicker to do that, but randomly abandoning the dudes who held a major role in judging whether or not I was trustworthy would've been a bad idea. So we walked. I actually floated, trying avidly to summon up the power I had so easily used back on Atlantica. My results where a charge of cryokinesis around my hand and a burn on one of the walls near us courtasy of an accidentally shot-off ectobeam. That, the ectobeam, caused the team behind me to go insane. all gun blazng, they circled me, requesting I 'put my weapons down'. I turned to them, contently amused, and raised a fist to my side.

"I don't need guns. Do you see any on me?" And with that, I charged my fist up to show them, soon letting it fade away as I turned around again, wondering what the others where doing.

0o0o0o0

-Balthiers G.POV-

He didn't need instincts to tell him that these people had a bucketload of expensive items stashed away on their 'city'. In fact, the moment he'ed gotten the chance, he had shaken off his guards and dashed up a stairwell not far from what he assumed to be the main room, what with all the dashboards and monitors it was packed with. He had expected to find a cache of weapons, or even the cliche of gold and jewels. He_ hadn't_ expected to find a rather large room filled to the brim with travel-sized ships. Grinning, Balthier headed to the nearest one, smiling pleasedly as the the ships door opened. He wandered inside of it, heading immediatly to what he assumed to be the ships control panel. It wasn't dissimilar from a few ships he had seen back in Ivalice.  
Kneeling down, he pulled himself until he was directly underneath the panel, looking at a section that appeared to be removable. After a bit of fiddling, the section of metal popped off, revealing an array of crystals that immediatly reminded Balthier of the ones in his own ship, the Strahl. His grin widened as he pulled out a handfull of crystals. Magicite. The Magicite Crystals looked almost identical to the gems already set into the ships array, and Balthier just had to try out the plan swirling in his brain.

"If I'm right... Then if I move this... here... This; over there, and put a Fire-Magicite Crystal in it's place..." He began to mutter to himself as he continued to customise the array, occationally stopping to press a few buttons. He didn't know how it worked after all. It could've been as simple as his own ship, or as complex as responding to a specific person's DNA. Which part of him assumed was likely. But Balthier, being the Sky pirate he was, refused to give up. After all, this would put another feather in his cap. Hotwiring the ship of a city with technology nobody has ever seen before. Perhaps he could take the ship and use it to find Ivalice. Then he could see if he couldn't intergrate any useful techology to the Strahl. Lord knew it had been forever since she had gotten new toys.

"If only Fran could see me. Stealing a ship from a place like this." He stopped his adjusting of the ships Crystal array, and laughed. "If only this places inhabitants could see me! I'd get hauled away in an instant." Suddenly, the ship seemed to jump and sputter. He almost had it.

"Let see... If you connect to the flight... Then a Skystone in your place should jog the ships flight speed and capabilities remarkably." Next, he pulled a Thunder-Magicite Crystal out, jamming it into a crystal slot that had just been emptied. He felt a jolt of some sort of energy run across his hands before the ship sparked, lights flickering a bit before flashing on, and staying there. He felt the ship wobble, adjusting itself as it floated upward a few inches. Balthier grinned. He had managed to hotwire technology that likely was very hard to hotwire. He was proud of himself. But proud and in a hotwired ship still in it's docking bay was as far as he would go. Or at least, would _be able to_ go. Because alas, the guards he had so easily shaken off where back, all aiming guns at him. They looked, however, not angry, but stunned.

"What? Never seen a man hotwire an Airship before?" He grinned broadly as the men exchanged confused and slightly amazed looks. "Come on, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to lead me back to your commandng officer? Or offi_cers_, it might be plural." He chuckled, turning around and pulling himself back underneath the 'dashboard' as he spoke. "If you would just excuse me for one second..." And in not even three minutes, he had his Magicite back in one of his bag-like pockets, the ships original crystals back in place and the ship itself; off, with the guards likely leading him back to the woman who had called herself Wier. His pride was stunted slightly at his being caught before he could test fly the odd ship, but he soon began to assume that the simple act of starting it all by his lonesome would be excitement enough for alot of people living on the giant city.

0o0o0o0

-Narrators POV-

He had gotten a little more attention than he had wanted. Of course, he didn't mind showing off both his automail and his Alchemy to a bunch of fellow scientists. It was doubtless that they studied a different type of science, but it made him happy all the same to learn that it was all thanks to the ragtag group of science men standing around him that this 'City of Atlantis' stayed floating above the many thousands of miles of water below it.

Even on a different world, Science played the most important role in society. Even _if_ nobody realized it.

The kid called Chiro wasn't doing much, just staying quiet and out of peoples way. He was, however, listening to the conversation Ed had been having with the Scientists.

"So how is it that you achieve that? Natural ability, or some kind of technology native to your world?" Asked the heavily-accented man who had identified himself as Radek. Ed shook his head.

"It isn't achieved through technology; where I come from, we chose the path of Alchemy rather than the straight Biological and Technological Science you guys know. But it's not natural, either. You have to learn it. I went through rigorous training to learn what I did." He drew a basic Alchemy circle on a pad of paper, placing it on the desk in front of him. "Most people have to use something like this; a Transmutation circle. I don't, though." Radek looked up.

"Why not?" Ed had a sneaking suspision that most of the men before him -such as the 'Radek' person- weren't as curious as they let on, but continued anyway.

"I performed the Taboo of Alchemy; Human transmutation, and got sent to the Gate. When I woke up again, I could perform alchemy without a circle." Ed told them slowly, leaving out a few parts. They didn't need to know everything, after all.

"...Interesting. Can you show us some Alchemy?" Radek asked. Ed grinned, pulling up the right sleeve of his jacket, almost fully revealing his automail arm. He stood up, a serious look plastered onto his face as he clapped his hands together, then moving his left hand down his right arm to turn the hand into a long blade. Several men grinned broadly.

"That must come in very hand during a fight." Radek stated. Ed nodded in agreement.

"It does. My automail has saved my ass on more than one occation." He looked toward the hallway beside him as both Balthier and Rodney's voices began echoing down it. All men stopped speaking as the voices and conversation neared them.

"...you manage to do that?! You can only operate those ships with the ATA gene, and I know for a fact, Balthier, that you don't have it!" The other oddly dressed man, Balthier, grinned as he responded.

"Everything has a loophole. It's all a matter of how hard you look for it." Rodney groaned.

"Do you even realize how long we've been trying to do what you did in those few minutes? How did you do that? Tell me!" He demanded. Balthier pulled an odd Crystal out of his pocket. It was red in color, and partially transparant.

"It's called Magicite. Rather abundant back on Ivalice. It's the power source for most everything. There's also Auracite; used for summoning the Yarhi, but at the price of your Anima, and Skystones; which are almost as varient as Magicite. Skystone is used for flight in the Airships. But most Skystone is useless over Jagd, but fortunately for me the Strahl is equipped with the very type of Skystone that is immune to the Jagd-Yensa's effects." Balthier glanced backward at Rodney, then laughed at his baffled expression, continuing to walk forward. Ed, however, just turned away, talking some more to the group of scientists before him.

"So how does your 'Automail' work?" He heard Radek ask. Edward grinned, once again pulling up his sleeve. He was starting to enjoy being here.

0o0o0o0

-Danny's POV-

We were probaly halfway back to the main room when I ran into Sora. Not literally, mind you. Anyway, I had discovered that neither me nor him had had the balls to shake off our guards to proceed with a more thorough and in-depth search of the floating city called Atlantis.

"Anything?" He asked me. I shook my head.

"Nope. Maybe we need to stop looking so hard. Is it usually something obivous, once you figure out what it is?" I asked him. Sora thought for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah. Maybe it's-" But he was cut off as the familiar hexagonal force feilds shot up around us. Not only that, but Heartless, too began to form.

"Well crap." Beside me, Sora sighed.

"So much for regrouping and laying out possibilities." I chuckled, looking over my shoulder at the perplexed military men.

"You guys just hang back. Me and Sora can handle _these_ guys." The men did nothing, but did looked slightly peeved at a child ordering them around. I would've told them that they had no reason at all to take orders from me, but earlier experiences with the Heartless might've proven otherwise. Anyway, we shot forward, me transforming into my ghost form as I blasted Heartless after heartless with my ectobeams. Or, if I felt like it, I used my cryokinesis to freeze them.

"Hey Sora," I said, while freezing a Heartless solid. "Who ordered the Iced Heartless, eh?" Sora groaned, rolling his eyes. I just chuckled.

After a few minutes, the Heartless where gone. The forceshields, however, remained intact.

"What? That's not fair, we busted the heartless up, these things should be gone!" A groan escaped my lips as I turned to both Sora, and the military men.

"Looks like phazing is the only option." The men looked mildly confused, and Sora looked slightly put out for some odd reason.

"You don't have enough strength to carry them all at once." He pointed out. "And even if you did, they'll only get in the way once we find the Boss." I looked around.

"Well, it looks like the Heartless aren't popping up any time soon. But how are we supposed to know if once we leave, any Heartless appear?" Sora gained a reluctant look.

"I really don't want to leave people alone with the Heartless running around, but..." He breathed out. "Let's do it." He turned to the men. "If the Heartless appear, your guns should be able to take'em out." One of the men nodded, and in an instant I had grabbed Sora around his waist and began phazing him through wall after wall. That is, until we hit something rather large and solid.

A large and _black_, solid something. I had no idea what it was, but Sora threw out the name as if he had read my mind.

"A Darkside?!" I tore my gaze away from Sora to look at the thing -the Darkside- in front of us. It looked immensly like Mendirax, only the Darkside possessed a giant, heart-shaped hole in it's chest, and was much larger. Mendirax possessed no such thing, and was human-sized. It was then that I noticed where we were. It was what Weir had called the 'Gate room', but that wasn't what had caught my eyes.

In front of us was that Gate thing Weir had mentioned. A hexagonal-shaped forcefield covered itis portal, underneathe it; the keyhole.

"Can you say ironic?" I heard Rodney say. I looked around, finally seeing Rodney, Balthier, Chiro and Edward pounding on a forcefeild holding them back and away from the room me and Sora were posed in.

"Guess it's just you and me, Sora."

"I guess so."

"You think we can handle it?"

"Heck yeah."

"And if somebody from the organization appears?"

"We can still handle it." We looked to the side as a female voice cut through us.

"How about if two appear?" It was Naxan, standing next to a slightly-hunched-over male I didn't recognize.

'_His name is Xalara.' _Something inside me said. '_He controls the blizzard element. Naxan controls thunder._' The voice continued. In front of us, yet to our side, Naxan yelled out in anger.

"Stop that! Stop communicating with your past self! You and that keyblade part of you aren't supposed to be that connected yet!" She sounded pissed, and her anger was emphasized more when she summoned a black pitchfork inlaid with a large ruby. Electricity swirled around it. The male beside her summon a pair of dull magenta whips, and swung them up, then smashed them against the floor. Some kind of energy seeped out of them, the area around where the whips had hit freezing on contact.

"No same effecty on mortal boys... Would be nice, though... Nicey nice, pair of frozen boys, yes...? Frozen keys! Frozen solid!" He yelled out. Naxan raised a shield, seperating her and Xalara from us and the Darkside.

"And so it shall commence..." She said, as me and Sora turned to the only other accessable enemy.

"I have a feeling that we're about to get so screwed."


	20. NOT A CHAPTER!

Sorry everyone, but this isn't a chapter. Just a note to tell you guys that CFTL is on Hiatus for the time being. I'm not going to stop writing this story, it isn't being discontinued, I swear! It's just that Chapter Twenty is being shitty, and It's going to take quite some time to write, so until then, the story itself is being put on hiatus.

I appologise for any inconveiniance.


	21. A Vagrants Contact

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker, Vlad © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, 'Possesser' Heartless, Darkside, Nobodies © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him/them. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Myxra © Twilight101

Kirex © Syuveil

Xyrzeh © Shining Zepher

Xalara, Mendirax, Naxan, Erradexn, Stanzix, Harintex, 'Camview' Nobody © Myself.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix(?)

Balthier, Vaan, Fran, 'Magicite' © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings (Magicite: Various Final fantasies) © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay, Atlantis, Wraith, Weir, Radek, Puddlejumpers © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ?

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney (feels stupid)

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ?

**Authors notes:** Chapter bloody twenty!

TWENTY! It's a new personal record! Never, in all my life did I once think I'd follow a story long enough to reach the twenty chapter mark. Nor did I think the chapters I'd write would be as long as they are. They're actually longer than most of my previous stories because I recently received a wide/flat screen PC monitor, and the width of my screen reflects the length of my chapters. A regular monitor would shorten the chapter length considerably.

Anywhoo, on to chapter 20!

Also, I apollogise for the delay. Inspiration has been hard to find as of late.

(I was listening to some Spice Girls while writing the second half of the fight scene. So sue me.)

* * *

"Crap, crap and crap again!" I yelled out, sheilding myself as the large, heartless, the Darkside, once again attempted to crush me underneath his, _it's_ hands.

""I told you, aim for it's eyes, hands or chest!" He looked thoughful for a moment. "It's back works too!" He didn't pull his consentration out of the battle, however. I admired this kids multitasking ability. He could hold up a conversation while rescuing somebody, attacking AND defending, all at the same time. I really wanted to spar with this guy now. Hell with the Heartless, Sora would be an awesome training partner. But now wasn't the time for thinking about a training partner. Right now I had a rather large Heartless taking up a considerable amount of the rooms space, and I had to defeat it before it managed to reach the Keyhole.Not that it looked like it was going to attempt that any time soon.

"Right between the eyes, eh?" I said, dodging another bout of attacks while charging up a pair of ectobeams laced with my cryokinesis. Next to me, though far from where I stood, Sora nodded.

"Yep. Or the hands, back or chest." Suddenly, something registered in my mind.

"What chest or back? It doesn't have any! There is, however, a very convieniant gaping hole in that area." I said, gesturing to that very spot. Sora laughed.

"You know what I mean, Danny." I chuckled, further charging my ectobeams. I raised my hands, letting the beams fly into its eyes. Or at least, toward its eyes. Before the beams could hit, it raised a hand, absorbing the blast and redirecting the energy back toward myself in the form of what looked like blackis-purple-colored ectoplasm.

"It knows Dark Aura?!" I heard Sora yell. I grimaced as I stood up again.

"Whatever that is, it isn't good, is it?" He shook his head.

"No, it isn't! Dark aura is powerful! A Darkside shouldn't be able to use that!" I turned to the thing that took up so much room in the small space we were situated in, and thought while dodging the Darksides attacks. My Ecto-based attacks wouldn't likely do anything, judging by how easily it had absorbed and re-directed my Ectobeams... Ghostly wail was strong, but consumed all of my energy. I'd save that as a last resort. Intangibility was more defensive-based, but I _could_ phase it halfway through the floor, then... No, who knows what kind of damage that might end up doing to the city. I groaned. I was running out of strategys. Fast. My cryokinesis wasn't ecto-based, and didn't take much of my energy. I could freeze it, Sora could do that shish-kabob beam attack of his, then I could lock the keyhole. Simple enough. Likely to fail, but it was worth a try.

"Okay buddie, lets see how you heartless handle below-zero tempuratures!" Sora glanced at me once before watching beams of ice shoot out of my hands, consuming the large thing in front of us. It continued to stay that way for a litte while, during which time I ran behind it, aimed for the keyhole.

"Oh, no you don't!" I heard Naxan say, She summoned her weapon of choice, her Pitchfork, and quickly zapped me, sending me flying backwards into the frozen Darkside.I looked up at it, a determined look on my face. Before I even realized what I was doing, my hands charged up with a white energy, and I blasted through the ice, through the heartless. It seemed to scream as it dissappeared, and I only barely managed to retain my hearing. Christ, for beings without mouths or vocal chords, these little things -big, in the Darksides case- could make alot of noise.

"Nice, Danny!" Sora yelled, aiming his keyblade at the keyhole. I ran -flew, rather- over to him.

"Sora, your Keyblade doesn't do anything, remember? Besides we still got those two to worry about." I gestured toward the two Organization XII members; Naxan and Xalara. Xalara crouched slightly, taking one step forward. Naxan nodded, and the shield seperating us from them dissappeared long enough for the insane male to run over to us.

"Fighty, wanna fight? Yes? No?" He didn't give neither me nor Sora a chance to answer, for in an instant he was all for freezing us solid with those cryo-whips of his. I had taken soon to using my own Cryokinesis to combat his own, while Sora used what I presumed to be Reflega to defend against the all-too-rapid attacks.

"How the heck do we fight against this guy?" I yelled over to my partner. "He leaves no room for retaliation!" Sora could only shrug as an answer, as the male who wasn't known as anything in particular moved from attacking me to Sora.

"Xalara, dispite his little flaw, has yet to be defeated. He doesn't know the word mercy. And I'm not kidding either. He really doesn't know it." She chuckled, only smiling as me and my friend continued to whittle our energy away simple trying to defend. In an attempt to confuse the male, I duplicated my form, grinning when he stumbled for a moment. But only for a moment. In an instant he was an insane, whip-toting blur, intent on smashing, freezing and/or destroying whatever it was he came into contact with.

"Nice going Danny!" Sora yelled at me, annoyance in his voice. "Now we have an even worse chance of beating him!" He turned to Ed, who stood watching behind the forceshield. "Hey, a little help?" Ed nodded, preparing to use what we had learned was called 'Alchemy'. He was stopped, however, by Naxan, who took advantage of the childs metal arm and leg, and zapped him with a less-than-lethal shock of electrcity. He fell to the floor in pain, the occational arc of electricity jumping from one piece of metal to another. Rodney began to freak out, calling one 'Carson' to the gate room immediatly. I turned, anger in my eyes, to Xalara and Naxan. We had to get rid of these two quickly. Who knew what they would do with this worlds technology.

"Zap, zappy zap!" I almost did a faceplant when I saw that Xalara was bouncing around like a three-year-old, giggling madly at what Naxan had did to Ed. I turned, grinning, to Sora, who nodded silently in agreement. We both knew what to do. Fight dirty and take any opportunity we could. I charged one of my hands with cryobeams, then laced it with Ectoplasm, quickly doing the same with my other. Sora began to silently charge up his keyblade, for the inevitable final blast that would take the two Organization members out.

Hopefully both at once.

I jumped up, letting the cryobeams pour out into what looked like greenish-blue ribbons of energy, freezing Xalara from the feet up to his lower shoulders. He squirmed, trying desperately to free himself, but to no avail. Even if he managed to free a part of himself, it only got more Cyro-plasm layered overtop. Xalara yelled out, atracting Naxans attention. She fliched, groaning. It actually sounded like a mix of Scoff and growl, but whatever. In any case, she let her Pitchfork dissappear in a flash of light, taking two steps backward before opening a shadowy-black portal.

"Damn." She said, before she jumped through her summoned portal. "We'll never win if it goes like this again..." And with that, she was gone. Xalara began to panic.

"No! Nononono! No leavey, no abandoning! Save Xalara! Savey save! Please!" Sora shot him a pitying look, but let the beam pierce the Nobodies body all the same. The ice shattered, as did the pair of magenta whips he weilded. The nobody let out a pained scream before dissappearing in a flash of blackish-white light. Sora punched the air.

"Alright! One down!" I nodded, but didn't say anything, only moved forwards as the shield covering the keyhole on the portal disappeared.

"Now... How did I do this before...?" I wondered to myself. I placed a hand -my left- on the keyhole, and closed my eyes.

'_Lock._' I thought. A 'click' reverberated through the room, and as I opened my eyes, I discovered that I was no longer in the Gate room. In fact, I wasn't anywhere. At least, nowere that I could recognise. Pitch black landscape dotted with stars completely surrounding me, occationally broken by a stream of silvery-white. It looked like a black and white tie-dye mixed with something one might see in an image of outer space.

'_Do you remember...?_' A voice asked me. It didn't sound like an enemy, or even a possible one, but I wasn't about to let my guard down.

"Remember what?" I asked it. The voice chuckled.

'_Heheheh... I guess I should've expected as much for an answer. You and I have been connected but for only a short while. Why would you already know me again...?_'

"What are you talking about? Who are you?" A slivery thing appeared before me. It looked like a human mixed with a Dusk, and what I later learned was a Dancer Nobody. But it emanated no such dark aura as the Heartless or Nobodies. It felt... not human, but definiately like it had a heart.

'_I am Destiny. Just as you are Balance. I suppose I don't need to put those names together for you to know what I am implying?_' I understood almost at once. It seemed to be saying that it was Me. It was Destinys Balance. But how could it be me, If _I_ was me?

'_That is difficult to explain, little one.'_ I blinked. That voice... Now I recognised it... It was the same voice from The Castle That Never Was, that had spoken to me after I had been teleported back to my quarters while in that room in Hidden Fate.

'_Yes. Exactly. Now you've got it._' I breathed in and out silently for a while, taking in the fact that I was now talking with myself. Could this be considered M.P.D(1)? The thing, Des, as I would respectively call it from now on to avoid mass mental confusion, placed a hand on my shoulder.

'_You know, you haven't left Atlantis. Right now, you have three Doctors, along with the man known as Carson, trying figure out what happened to you. I feel I should let you wake up now._' Des removed it's hand, and things around me soon began to blur. I wanted to yell out, but found that my voice was being inhibitied by something. Soon, a light flashed, and I found myself gasping as I shot upward -I found that I was laying on a sort of hospital bed-, smashing my head against another males, who stumbled backwards while muttering something under his breath. Finally, he looked up at me, and I found out that the poor man who I almost gave a concussion to was an older man, bearing blue eyes -not unlike my own- and blackish-brown hair. He wore a beige uniform that was not unlike something I recognised from elsewere, but couldn't place where exactly. I recognised it nonetheless.

"D'you think you could give me a little warning next time, lad?" He asked me in a scottish accent, a bit of humor on his face. I chuckled.

"Sorry, sir."I looked around to see Sora sitting on a chair that appeared to have been dragged to my bedside, as it looked rather out of place in what I knew was called the Medical bay. He looked up at me from whatever he was reading -I noticed that it was not at all in the english languge. Rather, it looked like bundles of angled lines- and smiled.

"You're okay!" I chuckled at him.

"Why wouldn't I be?" I responded, sitting up. The male I figured was 'Carson' answered me.

"You collapsed after that keyhole dissappeared off the gate, lad. Sora thought you'd died." Suddenly, I remembered that Carson had been called to the gate before To deal with Edward, who had gotten shot with electricity. I wasn't much of a doctor, but I knew that anybody with two metal limbs getting shocked with electricity wasn't good.

"How's Edward?" I asked him. Carson grinned softly.

"If you mean the lad that has the two metallic limbs, he's fine. His arm and leg are giving me a bit of trouble, but he'll be fine after a bit more rest." He said, motioning to Edward, who slept on a bed not far from my own. I grinned slightly, letting my head fall onto my pillow. We had locked the keyhole, and once again escaped with little to no injuries.

I looked past the doctors and Marines, at the party of people we had come here with. Chiro, Balthier and Sora were talking to Miss Wier. Likely about how soon we could leave with two of the party bedridden. I sighed, grinning as I let my head lay back down on the pillow. If this was how my newest adventure was gonna go, I couldn't wait for more.

--

About two or three hours later, me, Sora, Edward -with the help of crutches, as his Automail leg didn't work anymore, due to the strike by Naxan, along with his arm-, Balthier, Chiro and Rodney stood on some sort of Outer docking bay, in front of the little stairwell-type thing that led to the inside of our Gummi ship. We all stood upright and still, like most of the Marines we had seen inside. We -even Balthier, much to my surprise- wanted to leave a good impression on Miss Weir before we left.

"I appreciate your help with saving Atlantis. I have a feeling that had you not come, we wouldn't have had much of a good chance of success." Sora chuckled.

"Unless you have a spare Keyblade lying around, then probably not." Weir smiled before continuing.

"I would like to know a few things before you leave, however. First, Will those creatures, the Heartless, I believe you called them, come back?"

"Probably. But since we locked the Keyhole, they won't be able to get at it, though. You guys should be able to handle it from here." I answered. Again, Weir smiled.

"Second, how did you know where Atlantis was? I asked him, and Rodney told me that he didn't tell you the coordinates."

"The Gummi ship can find any world." I answered, not really delving into details. "But if it's secrecy you're after, Miss Weir, we won't tell anyone where Atlantis is. You can trust us." She grinned softy, nodding.

"Good. Now, I'd like it if Rodney came back, but I have a feeling you'll need him a bit longer." She turned to the male. "Rodney." He straighted up. "Stay with Danny, and help with anything you can." Rodney nodded.

"If you want him back, we don't mind the loss, Miss Weir." Weir chuckled.

"We can handle ourselves without Rodney for a few days. Radek won't particularly enjoy the new strain, but he'll manage." Edward looked up from his Automail at mention of the chezk scientist.

"Tell Radek that I want to come back again soon to show him how to make Automail. Winry, my mechanic, has been teaching me, and I can make small repairs on it by myself, now. I'm sure that Automail'll be a big help to you guys who might've lost any limbs in fighting." Weir grinned, nodding again.

"I'll be sure to pass that on." She turned to me "I'm sure you and you're friends need to leave. I wish you good luck on your mission." I smirked.

"It's more of a 'journey, Miss Weir. But thanks all the same." I turned to my party.

"Okay guys. Lets head off. Still got nine or so other Organization members to bust up." As we walked up into the ship, I laughed as I heard Sora speak.

"Aren't _three_ of them on _our_ side?"

* * *

(1) **M**ultiple **P**ersonality **D**isorder - More correctly called Dissociative Identity Disorder, a mental condition where two or more distinct personalities are theorized to control the behaviour of a single individual.


	22. Emmisary and Revealed

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker, Vlad © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, 'Possesser' Heartless, Darkside, Nobodies © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him/them. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Myxra © Twilight101 _**(Character to be revealed soon)**_

Kirex © Syuveil _**(Character to be revealed soon)**_

Xyrzeh © Shining Zepher **_(Character to be revealed soon)_**

Xalara, Mendirax, Naxan, Erradexn, Stanzix, Harintex, 'Camview' Nobody © Myself.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix/Hiromu Arakawa

Balthier, Vaan, Fran, 'Magicite', 'Auracite', © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings (Magicite: Various Final fantasies) © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay, Atlantis, Wraith, Weir, Radek, Puddlejumpers © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ?

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ?

Altair Ibn-La'Ahad © Assassins Creed © Ubisoft _**(Awesome game. Play it. Seriously. The end is a giant DaVinci code that'll leave ya tearing for more!)**_

**Authors notes:** Chapter Twenty-one. Or twenty-two if you count the A.N chappy. Whatever. Just a little check-up on Clockwork and them.

_This_ type of font is refering to Altairs (assumedly) arabic language, as every time I try to get Arabic onto fanfiction, it gets screwy and doesn't work right.

* * *

A land of swirling green, where nothing stays in one place for very long. An expansive world where independent existance is out of the question, where it has to remain forever intertwined in a mirror-image existance with it's twin, Earth. This strange, intertwined existance does not bother either sets of inhabitants, be it the Spirits world, or Earths.

The Ghost Zone was not a normal world. It was one of few where it needed attachment to another world to rightly exist. Much like Nobodies. For example. Roxas needed to be attached to Sora to be able to say he existed, in a way. He needed to be part of Sora in order to be whole. The Ghost Zone was the very same way.

Clockwork moved a few locks of his silvery hair as he continued to stare into his pendulum as the images flashed by in no proper order. The images where of a land somewhere in Earths past, more specifically, the middle-east; around the year 1200. He was searching for an assassin that went by the name Altair. Not once had the man lost -in this particular timeline, anyway- and was the best at tracking that Clockwork cared to recal offhand.

Suddenly, the images stopped on a man donning a long white monks robe. Covered in weapons -a dagger, a sword, three sets of hidden throwing knives, a dagger hidden up his sleeve, specialized for sneak-assasinations- he walked down a well-worn road in an ancient Masyaf.

"Altair..." Clockwork muttered, twitching his right hand slightly. A mist flew from the pendulum, slowly taking the shape of the man in the pendulums image. The man, once fully there, did not show any signs of being shocked, only mildly interested. He turned to the elder Time-ghost, and spoke. But not in english.

"_Where am I, and who are you?_"Clockwork recognised it as Arabic, or an earlier version of it. This would make his work a little more difficult. Danny only knew a few words of arabic, and only because the happenings after the 'disasteriod' incident required him in other countries. Even then, it was the current version. This man, Altair, was from the 1200's, no doubt he spoke an earlier version. Nevertheless, Clockwork responded, also in Arabic.

"_I am Clockwork, Master of Time. You are in my tower, as I need you to do something for me. Find someone, to be exact._" The male, Altair, cocked his head just slightly.

"_Certainly a master of time can find someone himself? Why would someone with such power as yourself need an assassin to find somebody?_" Clockwork chuckled. He did make a good point. If he was indeed a master of time, he wouldn't technically need somebody else to find someone for him.

"_Lets just say that what I wan't you to do isn't in my power range._" Clockwork turned toward the green-glowing pendulum on the wall. "_You see, I'm sure you know about alternate universes. What I want you to do is sort of like traveling to some of those worlds. I cannot. At least, I'm not supposed to. I want you to find a friend of mine, and give him a message._" The time master gestured to the currently-stationary thermous sitting on a pedastel a few feet away. "_An old enemy of his is locked inside that device, but it won't hold for very much longer. I want you to tell him that he needs to lock the worlds keyholes as fast as possible._" Clockwork turned away from the white-clad assassin. "_I would also like you to look after two children there. They are called Sora and Danny. Danny is the one I want the message delivered to._"

Altair tilted his head to one side.

"_So you would have me act their guardian?_" Clockwork, still facing away, nodded slightly.

"_If you don't mind. Strong, though they are, they are still children, and need someone to watch over them for the time being._" Behind him, Altair bent into a respectful bow, one hand crossing his chest.

"_I will try my hardest to succeed in this... misson, Time Master._" As Altair turned away, a green portal opened up in front of him. He stood still for a moment.

"_That will lead you to where Danny and Sora are. Both are of the same age group. Danny has ebony hair and wears a white shirt with blue pants, Sora; complexly designed black garb, and has brown spikey hair._" Altair nodded one last time before walking calmly forward, through the glowing portal to where his goal wandered. Once the assassin with the questionable loyalties was gone, Clockwork sighed slightly. All this not knowing anything was stressing him. Never before had he been so forced to keep tabs on worlds he knew nothing of. At least he knew how Sora felt.

"Once this is over, I'm going to need a very, very long rest." Clockwork said, grinning tiredly. Perhaps he'd finally start to train Danny as a successor...?

0o0o0o0

It was barely noon when the ponytailed male with ebony hair debated on actually doing his job. He was supposed to be surveying this world for strong hearts, but the thing was, almost everyone was some sort of high-class fighter. He didn't care much for fighting at the moment, so stayed on the rooftops watching people pass by, counting how many had one type of blade, how many females carried another, and how many different species of non-humans cared to populate the city he lay in.

One Stanzix -number VI in the Organization- stopped in his metaphorical tracks when he saw the mis-placed group of humanoids -for any one of them could be something else, though he was sure they were all human- that were contented with allying with the light walking seemingly aimlessly down a semi-crowded backstreet.

"He-llo, what have we here?" Stanzix muttered, supporting his head in his hands as he amusedly watched the lost-looking group of people. It appeared as though they had gotten a clothes change at some point, as they all blended in rather well with the backround. They appeared to be talking with one another. Still wanting to be left out of any fighting, he listened quietly from his rooftop perch.

"--d'you think the keyhole is this time?" It was the young -and rather untalkative- boy who went by the name Chiro. -He had been very inquisative before, but the Organization had put a stop to that.- The keyblade master spoke up next.

"I'm not sure. Maybe it's Balthiers ship?" Sora said. Next, the Sky Pirate spoke.

"Perhaps. But that seems a tad too obvious, doesn't it?" The current conversation ended there as a boy who looked not much older than Sora, accompanied by what he remembered was called a 'Veira' walked up. All were silent, until the Veira lady decided to speak.

"Baltheir, your freinds are not Ivalician. I do not believe they are even of this world." Baltheir turned to her, but the new boy, the Blondie, spoke first.

"What makes you say that, Fran?" The Veira lady, Fran, turned to look at her partners friends, seeming to glare coldly into each ones soul before responding.

"They do not smell right. And they do not emanate nor hold the Mist in their bodies, as any Ivalician would, Magicks or no. It seems to avoid them, as if they are not any natural product of this world." Once more she turned to the Sky Pirates friends, pointing at the Keyblade master as she spoke. "And that one wears females clothing." The young blondie, and several others began to laugh loudly at Frans comment. The Veira herself seemed to smirk. But all went quiet when the Veira spoke again.

"I smell a foul energy nearby." She seemed to look directly up, into the sky above her. "It smells of darkness. It also bears the same kind of scent as your friends, Balthier." And with that, she turned directly toward Stanzix himself, who stumbled upward in shock.

"Crap!" He yelled out, immediatly teleporting himself elsewhere on the world of Ivalice. But it was too late, he knew.

They had already seen him.

* * *

Sorry it took so long to get out. My muse is being a real bitch... Went through so many different versions it's not funny! DD:

Oh well... guess I'll just have to try and work through it. Also, final exams are coming up in school where I am, you won't see me until somewhere around the end of June, maybe early July.

Later! (If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I like questions.)

-Yena


	23. Moving onward in more ways than one

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker, Vlad © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, 'Possesser' Heartless, Darkside, Nobodies © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him/them. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Myxra © Twilight101

Kirex © Syuveil

Xyrzeh © Shining Zepher

Xalara, Mendirax, Naxan, Erradexn, Stanzix, Harintex, 'Camview' Nobody © Myself.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix/Hiromu Arakawa

Balthier, Vaan, Fran, 'Magicite', 'Auracite', © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings (Magicite: Various Final fantasies) © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay, Atlantis, Wraith, Weir, Radek, Puddlejumpers © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ?

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ?

Altair © Assassins Creed © Ubisoft **_(Awesome game. Play it. Seriously. The end is a giant DaVinci code that'll leave ya tearing for more!)_**

**Authors notes:** Meh. Not feeling up to writing A-notes. So foo on you. Except for this: I forgot to mention that the next (Current, really...) world is Rabanastre; Ivalice, from Final Fantasy XII. Y'know, With Balthier, Fran, Ba'gamnan, Kytes, Filo, Penelo, Vaan, and Reks? Sorry 'bout that guys!

(It's about damn time that I intro the last three org members!)

* * *

I cocked my head to one side as the Cloaked Organization man -I think it was that Stanzix guy- shadow-ported away from me and my party.

"_Who_ was _that_?" Balthier asked, aiming the question to nobody in particular. I chuckled despite myself.

"I think his name was Stanzix. If I remember correctly, the guy fights with a sword shaped with a treble-clef." Beside me, the boy who had earlier introduced himself as Vaan jumped up from his sitting position on a nearby ledge-type-thing.

"C'mon, if we're gonna make Balfonhiem, It'll take the better part of two to three days; we should leave now." All eyes turned to him. "What?"

"Why do we need to go to Balfonhiem, Vaan? And why on foot? The Strahl is much faster." Baltheir stated. Vaan suddenly looked nervous, and I could tell that he wanted to hide something from the elder Sky-Pirate. "Alright, Vaan, what did you do, and how bad is it?" Vaan smiled sheepishly.

"The thing is... The Strahl is anchored at the Balfonhiem Aerodrome. I meant to bring it here, to Rabanastre, but these black monsters showed up when I was training off the west of the Cerobi Steppe! I was chased all the way back here." Baltheir raised an eyebrow.

"All the way across two continents to Rabanastre? That sounds highly unlikely." Vaan rubbed the back of his neck as he took a step backwards.

"Well, actually, I took up refuge in Old Archades first, until I could get my wounds healed." Baltheir interrupted his young friend before he could speak again.

"Why didn't you use Renew? Or Cure? It would've been much faster that way." Vaan shook his head.

"I did. Didn't work. For some reason, my magicks wouldn't do what I wanted them to. Those monsters are doing something to the Mist, it's like they're twisting, or absorbing it all or something. Once you run out of Mist or Ethers, you're out for good. They're affecting the crystals, too; they won't work either. The Gate crystals still teleport you, but it's all at random. I tried using the Old Archades gate crystal to get back to Balfonhiem, and ended up in Jahara. I only barely managed the trip here in one piece; I would've ended up dead if that group of Gariff warriors hadn't found me. Thank Occuria that we have a good relationship with them..." Balthier frowned concernedly.

"And the other Skyships? What of Public Airs?" Again, Vaan shook his head.

"All flights are grounded. If you wanna go somewhere, you gotta walk. And it's not helpful that the Chocobos refuse to leave the stables. Their handlers think they can sense those Monsters." Sora stepped forward.

"Well, you don't have to worry. We've fought the Heartless before. they're no problem." Vaan looked worried.

"Alright... But I gotta tell ya; they've been scouring all of Ivalice for Magicite. Alot of them have almost... absorbed it. I'm not sure about them, but I know that they'll be stronger than what you guys are probably used to." Sora nodded.

"Alright. It'll be good training for when me and my friends fight Xemnas." He was about to motion for Vaan to lead the way, but was stopped by the 'Veira' lady, Fran.

"You know not of the fiends of this world, Keyblade master. I would think it to be wise for us to properly equip ourselves before we leave." Sora stared at Fran.

"How'd you know who I was...?" Fran smiled mysteriously.

"Veira fairy-tales and legends describe a boy with limitless power, who channeled his energy through a blade fasioned after a key. It reads that he travesed worlds; but the most of the storys remain vague on who's side he lay on. The childrens fairy tales portray him as a hero to all." At this, Sora produced a lopsided grin. I turned to look at Vaan as he sighed.

"We need to hurry. Those things can attack at any time, but the ones here don't seem to like daylight, and ours is fading fast." He said, pointing at the sun which now hovered at what looked to be around a 35 degree angle above the horizon. I nodded. It would be smart to leave during the day, espesially considering we could see our path, and get a heading for which direction we should go. Balthier motioned for his young friend to lead the way.

"I've not been on Ivalice for some time Vaan, perhaps you would lead? Otherwise we might as well have a blind Mawfiend leading us." Vaan chuckled, walking toward where the sun was setting.

"I only hope that Penelo's doing okay back on Mt. Bur-Omisace..." Balthier cocked an eyebrow.

"What would she be doing there?" Vaan didn't look back to face the Elder man, only continued staring at the slowly falling sun.

"She was helping them out, lots of Fiends have been attacking lately. Now, with these monsters, I'm not sure if she can handle it alone." In a sudden mood swing, he whipped around, a bright smile on his face. "C'mon. The quickest route is through the Estersand up to Nalbina, where we can make our first break, then up through the Highwaste and the Salikawood into Phon Coast. That's break two; I'm good friends with alot of the hunters there, one of 'em's sure to have a place for us to rest for a bit. After Phon, we head through the Tchita uplands and the Cerobi Steppe. from there, it's a short walk to Balfonhiem."**(1)** I stared at him. _That_ was a _short_ route? The young sky pirate seemed to pick up on my confusion, and laughed. "Well, with the Chocobos, Gate Crystals and Airships all out of the question, walking is our only method of travel." I sighed at him.

"Fine. But I'm not walking. I'm flying, takes less energy." This time, it was Vaans turn to be confused.

"I just told you that the skyships were out, we can't use 'em with all the havok these monsters are playing with the mist..." I grined smugly, concentrating for only a nanosecond before the blueish-silver rings of light morphed me into my perhaps-not-so-ghostly-after-all ghost form. I let myself drift upwards slightly, so I was floating a good foot above the ground. Vaan jumped, looking me up and down. "Woah, what kinda magicks is that? Can you teach me?" I continued grinning at the excited Sky pirate.

"Not unless you feel like risking your life getting fryed by several thousand volts of supernatural energy, which I can't really guarantee you'd live through." I said quickly. Vaan quickly lost his eager aura.

"No thanks..." I sighed with amusement as we began heading toward the Estersand gate, toward our long, two-to-three-day journey.

I was starting to like this keyblade buisness.

0o0o0o0o0

-**XIII'th Crossing; The World That Never Was**-

'_What have you to tell me...?_' The ball of darkness; Xemnas asked, directing this question toward the now slightly larger group of people amassed before him. As usual, Naxan spoke first.

"Nothing new to report in our World survences. We've found one world that seems to have evacuated itself, though. It's heart is ours for the taking, once we find it." The glowing purpleish-blueish-black darkness ball seemed to smile.

'_Good, good... It seems, though, that our numbers are larger, by a difference of three... Whom are these new recruits, Number II?_' Naxan lead a trio of people forward. One, a male, seemed quite nervous.The other two, both female, hid any possible nervousness up well. Their faces were masks.

"These are Myxra, Kirex, and Xyrzeh." The nervous male, Kirex, made an odd motion, but it went unnoticed By all. Except one fast-talking Pyrokinetic. Nexidal.

"...Sir.INeedToGo.YouOrderedMeToFollowDanny'sNewGang,Right?" Xemnas's current form shivered.

'_Yes... But I want you to see if you can't retrieve Vonnix. Your new mission is to go back to Radiant Garden, and see if you can't find him. Stanzix is following Balance and his friends, one person is all we need on Ivalice right now._' Hidden underneath his hood, Nexidal frowned, a mix of smirk and grimace, one filled with hate -fake, of course- toward his so-called leader. He would turn tail and run to be on the winning side, but an inside man was needed in this business, now that Riku had been disposed of, and Vonnix held prisoner. He sighed to himself. He would never had expected that this 'existance' would be so eventful.

"I believe you would want to hear this, Superior, sir." Naxan said, taking a few steps toward their leader.

'_And what would this be that you want to tell me, Number II?_' Xemnas asked. Naxan took a few breaths before speaking.

"The spy in the castle, Riku... You told us he'ed been killed. But um..." She shifted a bit, looking rather nervous. Some of the other members took on a look of worry as well. If Number II, Naxan was nervous, it couldn't be good. "You see... When a person dies, their spirit vanishes to one of the seven heartless-proof worlds. Usually. But in Riku's case..." Naxan took a fist-sized device out of a pocket inside her coat, calling out an image of an odd, dark-looking world that read on holographic descriptions to radiate the precense of Hybrids of shadow and light. If Xemnas had a body, it would be shivering with rage.

'_No!_' Hidden by his hood, Nexidal smiled. If Danny and Sora made it that far, it would ultimately prove to be the darkness's permanant downfall.**(2)**

* * *

**(1)** - I actually had to referance to my FF12 game for this. Sheesh... The Ivalice part of CFTL looks like it's gonna take a while...

**(2)** - SEQUAL HINT! SEQUAL HINT! :DD The entire paragraph above this is sentance giant sequal hint. Yayness.

Also, the next chapter may just end up to be a check-up chapter. Y'know, on Vonnix, Leon and Gang, Vlad... Those poor souls who have been ignored for about six or so chapters now? Heh, anyway, I'm out for the next few days...

Yenattirb out!

-Yena


	24. Title is pending

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker, Vlad © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, 'Possesser' Heartless, Darkside, Nobodies © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him/them. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Myxra © Twilight101

Kirex © Syuveil

Xyrzeh © Shining Zepher

Xalara, Mendirax, Naxan, Erradexn, Stanzix, Harintex, 'Camview' Nobody © Myself.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix/Hiromu Arakawa

Balthier, Vaan, Fran, 'Magicite', 'Auracite', Nalbina, Balfonhiem, Rabanastre, ETC... © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings (Magicite: Various Final fantasies) © Sq/Enix

Rodney Mckay, Atlantis, Wraith, Weir, Radek, Puddlejumpers © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ?

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ?

Altair © Assassins Creed © Ubisoft **_(Awesome game. Play it. Seriously. The end is a giant DaVinci code that'll leave ya tearing for more!)_**

**Authors notes:** -Grins darkly- Oh, how I love forcing Sora to strip down. He's totally gonna hate Ivalice: Full of hot deserts. And Sora wears lots and lots of black. Not to mention that black attracts the heat. I think you fangirls and guys can see where this is going.

Anywhoo, Danny and friends make their way through the deserts and various other terrains of Dalmasca toward their goal; Balfonhiem.

Also, I'm rather surprised that nobody asked what Envy was doing on Atlantica, or how he got there in the first place. Anyway, that is brought up in the story, too.

**PS:** I'm getting rid of Chiro very soon. He honestly has no plot importance. When I wrote him in, it was really just a spur-of-the-moment kinda thing. He _was_ going to be of some general relevance, but I wrote something differently, took things out, put other things in, and so on. So... Yeah.

Also, heres a quote for y'all:

**_"Just because one is borne of darkness does not mean they are resigned to it."_**

* * *

"You could've told us that the Estersands were a giant desert!" Sora complained; his entire outfit was black, and everyone knew how well _black_ blocked out heat. He had resorted to taking off his coat, then other things until he wore only his shoes and pants, revealing many various small scars on his arms, chest and back, along with a violent-looking half-healed gashlike scar directly above his heart**(1). **Even his gloves had been taken off, which I had never seen him do before; Atlantica had been the only exception.

"I kinda figured that the fact it had 'sands' in it's name spoke for itself. And it's your own fault for wearing black. Someone with a job that involves traveling around from place to place should wear more conventional clothing." Sora scoffed at Vaans reply. Behind us, Rodney was muffling his own complaints, as he had been moaning about the insessant heat for some time now. We had all been tuning him out.

"This coming from a guy who wears only a couple sheets of metal and some cloth when he travels to and from both lava pits and snowy mountains." I sighed, shaking my head as I turned to Ed, whom was muttering to himself. It sounded as if he was trying to figure something out.

"What's wrong Ed?" Edward glanced up at me.

"Atlantica." I cocked an eyebrow. "Envy was there." I was still confused.

"So Envy was on Atlantica, should I be worried?" Ed nodded, a serious look on his face.

"Yeah, you should. First off, Envy can take the looks of anyone, and I mean, anyone. Secondly, Envy is from Amestris, my world. How did he get to Atlantica, then?" I narrowed my eyes. That hadn't bothered me at first, but now that Ed had brought it up again, it sounded as if Envy had met up with the Organization at some point. Plus, with what I now knew about this Envy guy, he would make the perfect spy, nearly impossible to spot even _if_ he was right in front of you.

"We'll just have to stay on our toes." I said. Ed nodded. This time, he turned to a book -he had taken it out of a bag at his side- entitled '_Chimeras: Anatomy and Structural Imbalances_'. There was no author name. I noted that Ed had a sort of longing in his eyes that I had grown to know. Had he lost someone important to him? Perhaps... multiple someones? I shook my head, deciding to leave it alone.

In the front of our group, Vaan had taken out a map. I groaned. His eyes said everything I needed to know, confusion was clear as day in them.

"Don't tell me you're lost on your own world." I said, as I walked up to him. He shook his head, and gestured down at his map. Parts were circled, some 'X'ed out, others shaded out entirely. One even had what could be read as battle schematics drawn out on them. I raised an eyebrow. "What is this?"

"Let's just say that the people of this world haven't been too welcoming to anyone they don't already know. Even if the person is a native of Ivalice, they'll shoot first, ask questions later if you and them aren't friends already. Especially the Urutan-Yensa. If you thought they were territorial before..." He trailed off, and I could feel worry mixed with fear rolling off his voice. Evidently these Yensa folks were a bunch to avoid, even on their _good_ days. Vaan sighed. "C'mon. Nalbina isn't that far off. And, luckly for you, Nalbina gets all sorts, so you'll be thought of as only a little strange instead of white against black." He didn't say any more, so I continued to walk in the direction Vaan was taking us, debating on whether or not I should fly; and save energy.

--

It didn't take long for us to reach the place Vaan called Nalbina. He had mentioned that it had once been a prison fortress sort of place, but had gotten ruined, so people where helping to rebuild it. To rebuild their own prison. I realized it would be like if _Walkers_ prison was destroyed, and me, Sam and Tucker, and many others -whom had once been entombed there- went and helped rebuild. Pointless, and self-entrapping. I cocked an eyebrow as I turned to Vaan.

"Why would they rebuild their own prison?" Vaan chuckled, and pulled out a few golden coins from a bag around his waist.

"For this. On our world, the currency is called Gil. And Gil can be pretty hard to come by for alot of people, nowadays. That's why everyone flocks here. Your labor earns you money." He turned to move further into the sandstone fortress, but I stopped him, grabbing onto his arm as I narrowed my eyes. Vaan turned to me, looking me in the eyes. I could tell he knew already what I was going to say, but he asked anyway.

"Why'd you stop me?"Vann asked. I breathed out, staring down the empty corridor. Normally, there would e tons of auras of various strengths in a town like this, but this time, there was only a select few, bundled together, and they felt scared. everything else felt like a pit of nothing. I knew that aura.

"Heartless." Sora growled in anger as stepped in front of us. I knew that he, too, could sense those shadowy auras. I had a vague idea why, but left my musings alone as we all bounded down the sandstone corridor toward the main 'marketplace'.

Heartless were there, but wouldn't be for very long. Not if we had anything to do about it.

0o0o0o0o0

Vonnix sighed as he stared at the white cloth that bound his hands together. He had been surprised back when he had summoned his Daemon-Apocrypha**(1)**. Didn't he use darkness to summon that thing? Or was it just a natural thing? He searched the memories of his time as a somebody; a being with a heart. Yes... Yes, he remembered now. The thing acted like Soras Keyblade did, appearing and disappearing at the bearers whim. It was borne of darkness, but did not require darkness to be summoned.

Suddenly, Leon and his gang bounded into view, out of a door located on the far side of the room.

"What's wrong?" Vonnix asked them. He wasn't certain he would get an answer. after all, he worked with darkness. Evidently, however, they trusted him to an extent, as they had earlier given him silent leave to walk around the decently-sized home without guard.

"One of your _friends_ is here, in the marketplace." Leon responded. Vonnix cocked his head to one side slightly, thinking.

'It's either Stanzix, Naxan, or Nexidal.' He mused. 'They're the only one's with that kinda aura, and the only ones Xemnas would bother sending after me.' He watched the group leave, but only after getting Cid to stay behind. Evidently, Vonnix was still untrusted.

--

"Hey,I'mAGoodGuy!" The black-cloaked male exclaimed, dodging the various attacks the group threw at him. He hadn't had time to lower his hood; he was too busy keeping himself in this realm of existance.

"Give us a good reason to beleive you." The brown haired man toting a gun-sword -he was called Leon, Nexidal remembered- said calmly. Nexidal twirled, taking this self-created opportunity to summon his dual Arquebus's. **(2)**

"BecauseICanBlowYouAwayWithThese, AndIHaven'tYet." It wasn't a good reason. Leon and gang were still attacking, but more determinedly. "Okay,Okay!I'mWithVonnix! AndDanny! NotToMentionAxelAndRiku!" They stopped attacking him, but didn't put their weapons away. Leon spoke up first, out of the group.

"Why should we beleive you?" Nexidal de-summoned his Arquebus's, holding his empty hands up.

"I'mTheOneThatHelpedSoraAndDannyEscapeTheCastleThatNeverWasWithThoseOtherGuys." He said quickly, but not quick enough that the gang would miss it. Leon raised his blade toward Nexidals throat.

"We still have no reason to beleive you." Fine then. Nexidal sighed, sitting himself down on the ground. Leons blade followed the action.

"WellIHaven'tCalledTheHeartessHereYet, HaveI? Plus,IfYouWerePayingAttentionInOurFight, IWasn'tAttacking. DefendingAndCountering, Yes, ButNotAttacking. IWasn'TEvenUsingMyWeapons." He summoned one of his Arquebus's and waved it a bit before letting it go back to the odd little void it seemed to situate itself in when not being used. Producing an apple from somewhere inside his cloak, he lowered his hood to reveal his spikey orange hair before taking a bite of the red fruit. In front of him, Leon's sword wavered a bit before lowering. It seemed even he had caught that fact while fighting.

"...Fine. But I'm not giving you any chances. Yuffie." He looked toward the ninja girl, who was rummaging through a bag, after a little while of which she pulled out what looked like a long, shimmering white scarf. Nexidal could feel the light rolling off it in waves. He stood up.

"ITakeItThatThat'sGonnaBeUsedToBlockOutMyPowersOverDarkness?" He asked. Leon nodded.

"Yeah. You're 'friend' back at Cids, Vonnix, has already started earning our trust by helping us out a bit, and handing some valuable information over to us. Axel only has free-roaming privileges because he saved Sora's life," Leon said, gesturing toward said redhead, whom had just wandered into view atop a nearby roof. "and Soras trusted him for a good half-year or so now. In other words, they're friends. You, however, are not yet a friend of ours, nor have you done anything we know of that'll lean you toward our good side. You're gonna have to start from the bottom." And in a few swift movements, Nexidal found himself almost completely imobilized by the 'holy' scarf. "C'mon." Leon said, before turning away. The ninja girl and another dressed in mostly a light pink color -it shocked him to see how much she looked like Naxan- quickly began to lead him away. Nexidal could only hope that Xemnas wouldn't suspect anything, and didn't try to find him. Not that he would. Xemnas never usually got involved with the lower members affairs.

Not usually.

* * *

**(1)** - 'Daemon-Apocrypha' was a name I made up on the spot as I wrote this. It's the name of Vonnix's book (The idea of the book itself was actually inspired and taken from the demon-looking version of the item 'Summoning Tome' from Gaiaonline), and is pretty much a fancy way of saying 'Evil-Spirit Bible' '(Inferior) Deity Bible', or 'Demon Bible'.

**(2)** - An 'Arquebus' is apparantly a type of gun, which I have no clue what it looks like. Feel free to search it up, that's probably not what it looks like. I have a sketch of a couple members weapons. Tell me if you want me to load 'em onto Deviantart. My user there is Ithsanduur.


	25. To the Almost Literal Death

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker, Vlad © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, 'Possessor' Heartless, Darkside, Nobodies, Heartless © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him/them. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Myxra © Twilight101

Kirex © Syuveil

Xyrzeh © Shining Zepher

Xalara, Mendirax, Naxan, Erradexn, Stanzix, Harintex, 'Camview' Nobody © Myself.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © Sq/Enix/Hiromu Arakawa

Balthier, Vaan, Fran, 'Magicite', 'Auracite', Nalbina, Balfonhiem, Rabanastre, ETC... © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings (Magicite: Various Final fantasies) © Sq/Enix

Rodney McKay, Atlantis, Wraith, Weir, Radek, Puddlejumpers © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ?

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ?

Altair © Assassins Creed © Ubisoft **_(Awesome game. Play it. Seriously. The end is a giant DaVinci code that'll leave ya tearing for more!)_**

**Authors notes:** Sorry about the long wait guys. My computer had this weird virus type of thing going on, and we couldn't figure out what was wrong with it. It had a habit of randomly shutting down at the most inopportune times, and had gotten very slow. But it's fixed now, and it ((Which I just recently identified as a 'Downloader' Virus)) is gone. Hopefully my computer will get better now.

And... yeah... I kinda realized the previous chapter feels... _Filler-y_...

On another note... Yena is now 18 years old! And I now have signatures from IllScarlet. They wished me a happy birthday, seriously. Also, two figurines of Jack Skellington now sit on my dresser, one of Santa Jack, the other, Pumpkin jack. Awesomeness. I also now own a WACOM.

But yeah.. On to the story!! Also, I'm sorry if this chapter feels off.

(In this Chapter,_ 'These_' words refer to Des's speak. Refer back a few chappys to find out who he is.)

* * *

"Man... When you said these guys might be tougher than what we're used to, you weren't kidding!" I yelled out as I blasted a Purplish-Green shadow heartless into smithereens. From my point of view, it looked as if they had taken advantage of the 'Magicite' stones on this world, 'eating' them, and getting more powerful. In return, the consumed Magicite gave them altered color and different abilities, both of which related to what stones they had consumed.

'For example' Balthier had told me; 'If one of these monsters consumed water and lightning based Magicite, they would meld into a greenish coloration, and would be decently resilient to both water and lightning, but however, would be susceptible to a certain mix of earth and fighting or martial-based physical attacks**.**' I nodded to myself.

"Why don't you just STAY dead!?"" Sora yelled out, looking quite angry at the stream of seemingly never-ending Heartless. I chuckled, turning to him, but not taking my eyes off the mass of enemies before me.

"They're _Heartless_, Sora. They don't 'die' in the first place." I said to him. Sora grumbled profanities under his breath. Obviously he didn't want anyone to hear him.

Just as I was about to start freezing them, they stopped. Completely halted movement, save for the jerky motions that they had virtually no control of. Then, on a ledge too high for any of us -except me- to reach, a black portal opened up, revealing the Organization XIII member I remembered was Stanzix. In his hands he held a young woman, bound and gagged. Out of a predeveloped caution, I made no movement. Well, that and I had many heartless ready and willing to take my questionably many-sided heart at any sign of retaliation. Stanzix summoned his sword, -_'Twilight__ Syu-__Zepher**(1)**_' Des told me was it's name. _'__He st__ole it off another world__, after defeating it's original bearer and turning him into a Heartless._'- tapping the woman on her chest, right above her heart. Beside him, a heartless appeared, a Neoshadow by the looks of its stature and build. Before any of us could do anything, the creature of darkness plunged its claws into the poor woman's chest, -there was no blood- pulling out a small, glowing orb. Her heart. The woman's body faded away into nothing, and a strange-looking heartless appeared before jumping into the void of shadows.

Beside me, Sora looked angry.

"What is it with you people and stealing the hearts of innocents!?" His hands were clenched into fists. Stanzix had an oddly calm look on his face as he spoke back to the brunette beside me.

"We just want our Hearts back. This is what it takes to accomplish that goal." Sora summoned his Keyblade, and the heartless surrounding us jerked violently, but didn't attack.

"You have to destroy worlds, and kill thousands just to bring yourselves back from a half-existence?! You-" Stanzix didn't let Sora finish, and cut him off.

"When you found out that Kairi had lost her own heart, didn't you swear you would do all it took to revive her?" Sora opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. "You even told yourself that even if it meant going willingly into the deepest darkness, so long as the end result was Kairi getting her heart back; you would do it." Sora's eyes glazed slightly, and he hung his head. I felt anger rising in my chest. Toward Stanzix, for taking the girls heart and saying what he was, or at Sora for what he apparently had sworn to do, I didn't know. Deciding not to channel my anger on my allies, I turned to Stanzix, placing all of my worries and blames on him; he was my target. He was the reason for all my recent sorrows.

"That was then, this is now!" I yelled. Stanzix chuckled and stepped into another portal, coming out a ways in front of us. He took a fighting position after de-summoning the heartless around us, and made a movement suggesting that me and my team could be the first to make a move. I growled at him -or maybe that was Sora- and ran at him, readying a bright and vibrant ectoblast. But before it could make contact, Stanzix laughed openly, jumping into a portal and closing it behind him. Thrown off by the odd 'tactic', I stumbled, my powerful blast blowing a crater the size of a small car into the soft sandy ground.

"Dammit, they always run." I mumbled, wishing for once that the villain stayed and fought instead of fleeing at the first chance. I turned around, running quickly back toward the gate, where I had seen a bright orange crystal the size of a young maple tree hovering off to the side and out of the way, right next to what was once probably a small shop. Behind me, a voice yelled out.

"What are you doing?! Vaan said that the crystals didn't work!" It was Chiro, apparently. Stopping at the mentioned apparatus, I concentrated, placing my hands on it.

"Then I'll _make_ them work." Had I looked back, I would've seen the others looking both curious and terrified at the same time. With the slight progress we had made, nobody wanted us to end up _farther away_ from our targeted area.

The others didn't notice anything happening, but in reality, I was busy trying to unravel the giant knot that was the crystal-teleport system. I wasn't making very good progress, and almost found myself channeling so much energy into trying to fix the problem that the bright orange stone, on multiple occasions almost blew up or burned out. However, before I could make anything beneficial happen, I found myself being sucked away from the spiritual connection that kept me in contact with my body at all times. My eyes clouded over with darkness, and all I heard was a light but dark laughing and what sounded like a worried child talking in another language before I completely blacked out.

--

"Wake... Boy; no is time for the sleepy-bye. Wake up now, boy."

I cried out in surprise and mild pain as I felt a young hand quickly connect with my left cheek. What had surprised me was the fact that the person whom was hitting me looked no older than five years in age. I examined this person carefully before doing anything more. Ten minutes of observation could easily save ones life. She had long hair that seemed to change color depending on how the light hit it, two different colored eyes -one orange, the other, blue- and wore a Japanese kimono with many different Kanji emblazoned on it. The room around me was orange in hue, like the crystal had been, and appeared several meters higher than it would've rationally needed to be. It was also very empty, save for the many doors covering the walls.

"Fight. Destroy. Now." She said plainly. I had a feeling that she didn't have a very good grip on English, perhaps even speaking at all.

She raised a hand, gesturing behind me. I turned, and paled. Standing there was a demon-like heartless that vaguely resembled a Bull or Rhino of sorts.It was also the general size of the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle.

"Why couldn't I get Undergrowth, or Vortex or something..." I complained to myself.

"This thing not belong. It die; you will kill." I sighed, readying myself to fight. Morphing into my ghost form, the girl gave no hint that she was intending to help, only took a few steps backward, as if she was moving out of the way. Pfft. As if there wasn't enough space.

"Okay, you... thing! You're going down!" Much to my surprise, it responded.

"Yooou arrre notttt welcommmme, Creaturrre..." Okay, so it _sorta_ spoke. It dragged out it's words strangely, 'but then again' I mused to myself 'it _is_ a Heartless.'

"Well neither are you, and my way out is after _you_ leave!" I immediately charged up and ectobeam, shooting it and watching with pride as it hit the thing directly. Unfortunately, my attack hadn't done anything, and I realized that only _after _it had smashed me into the ground. "O-okay..." I said, through a cough. "Ecto beams don't hurt you..." The girl behind me -I was thinking now that she wasn't a human at all, but a sort of representation of the Gate Crystal network- tilted her head, worry flooding her face.

"Boy! Hit _horn_, boy! _Horn_! Is weak spot!" I nodded, rapidly charging up a Cyrobeam, and shooting it at the Heartless' now-glowing horn. Much to my surprise, it seemed to scream out in agony, collapsing onto it's front knees. Taking the chance, I shot forward, shooting ectobeam after ectobeam at it's horn, until it jumped up onto all four legs again, raining down a charge of lightning onto me. Screaming, I paid what little attention I could toward what the Heartless was doing.

It was heading toward the girl.

An image of a building on fire flashed through my memories.

The Heartless moved closer.

'_No..._'

The burning building was collapsing, and a girl was trapped inside. The Firefighters couldn't reach her.

The Kimono-donning girl fell backwards.

'_NO__..._'

The unbearable heat from the fire reached me, even while intangible. I couldn't reach the girl either.

It was almost on top of her.

My eyes flared, glowing pure blue.

'_**NO**_.'

The blue glow charged down my body, replacing my soft white one. Angry, I pushed every bit of energy I had into charging the Cryobeam up. When it hit, it would destroy the Heartless instantly. I knew instinctively that the temperature of the supernatural ice-energy would freeze _anything_ it hit instantly. No if's, and's, or buts. I aimed a bit, then shot.

The girl had raised her small arms up, as if they would protect her from the attacking Heartless. I guess, in a way, it worked. The Heartless didn't attack, after all.

It was too busy shattering into a thousand pieces. But _I_ was too busy fainting from lack of energy. I saw the girl run towards me, smiling, then a white energy flowed into my body. The next thing I knew, I was laying on harder, grass-covered ground.

Very _wet_ grass-covered ground.

I looked around, not recognizing where I was. There was an animal pen of sorts that housed a multitude of antsy yellow birds. They appeared nervous about something, but I couldn't help them. At least, I shouldn't. My attention was diverted mostly to figuring out if the others where with me.

"Is everyone okay?" I heard Rodney ask. A multitude of groans and one sigh answered him. Apparently, they _were_ with me. Good. I stood up, brushing the dirt off my white shirt.

"Hey Vaan...?" I said, my head tilted toward the boy, but my eyes aimed forward; toward the town we sat in the entrance to. "This Balfonhiem?" As the apprentice Sky pirate responded, our group began to head forward.

"Y-yeah... It is. Wow... What'd you do to the Gate Crystal? You were standing there one minute, then unconscious on the sand." I turned.

"At first, I was trying to unscramble it, I thought it was just responding to the Heartless' presence. But then, I was..,. sucked, I guess, inside of it. The problem was that a Rhino-like Heartless was messing with it. So I defeated it, then... next thing I know, I'm here." Vaan shook his head, and I could tell he didn't fully understand what I had said. Oh well. The problem with the 'Gate Crystals' was fixed, we had just skipped several days of walking, and didn't get hurt in result.

"Well, that was certainly handy. Danny, Sora, Vaan, Fran. The rest of you. We should hurry. I don't like the looks of Balfonhiem right now..." Balthier said. I looked around the small part of the port-city I could see, and I, too didn't like the look of things. Not a soul could be seen, not even an Aura of one. I turned to Sora.

"Think it could be the Heartless?" Sora nodded, though he looked uncertain.

"Maybe. But I've never known them to stick to only certain areas before... Rabanastre was full to the brim with people, but this place is dead..." We followed the sky pirate silently, as the rest of the group talked. Ed and Rodney were talking to Vaan about Ivalician technology, and Chiro was conversing with Fran about the different species of Ivalician humanoids and local Viera defensive tactics.

Slowly, my mind wandered to Sam. I wondered how she was doing. More importantly, how her parents were handling their daughters inexplicable absence. Likely, my parents theory was a ghost. Jazz would be there, reassuring the Manson's that their daughter was perfectly fine, and likely in my care. By this time, they had learned of how much I cared for her, and knew I wouldn't let anything hurt her. Tucker would probably be right alongside Jazz, helping her out. My thoughts then shifted over sideways, twisting toward the worse. What if the Heartless were there? I mean, Axel had been able to go there and capture Sam, so why not the Heartless? Sora seemed to sense my distress, and placed a gloved hand on my shoulder.

"I'm sure your world is fine, Danny." I grinned softly, and nodded, but my calm was slapped around, twisted, and choked to death as I was blindsided by a bright yellow Neoshadow. I yelled out in pain, clutching right side of my face. Underneath my hand, four narrow gashes bled out greenish-red blood onto my ever-pale skin. Sora immediately acted, sending out a Reflega shield once the Yellow Heartless tore around for another go at my face. Some form of energy seemed to hold the Heartless to the shields surface, then, it exploded, the Neoshadow screaming in intense pain as it faded into nothing. Almost instantaneously Sora tore down the pathway through the town, and our entire group was forced to run as fast as humanly possible toward what looked to be a large boat dock, except for airships. I was still injured, though my increased healing -I presumed it was from Keyblade magic, instead of being part ghost- seemed to have closed the cuts enough to stop them from bleeding. Beside me, Balthier voiced a question.

"Is he _always_ this rash?" I chuckled, shaking my head back and forth.

"I dunno. For the amount of time I've know him, probably." Balthier laughed, turning forward again as we entered the large Aerodrome.

0o0o0o0

I don't even remember what happened. We entered the 'Drome, and Stanzix appeared. Me and him exchanged a bit of witty banter -I couldn't help myself, memories of back in Amity Park got the better of me- and soon thereafter, we all began to fight. First, he was losing, then... then, the next thing I knew, everyone was scattered everywhere...

--

I blinked repeatedly as the world swam back into view. Whatever I was looking at, it was one solid color, had a very repeated pattern, and- ...Oh... I was staring at the ceiling. Rubbing my head -it felt like I was shot, then bulldozed over- I sat up, taking in my surroundings. Chiro and Fran lay completely unconscious near a gate that led out toward a broken-looking and very immense Airship, Balthier, Rodney and Vaan lay behind -in Vaans case, on top of- a broken and shattered desk back near the entrance. Edward lay slumped against a wall, the rather large indent behind him implying that he had received the brunt of whatever attack Stanzix had sent out. Sora was roped up, tied to a large pole in such a way that I knew immediately that the Nobody didn't want to risk Sora waking up, sneaking over and taking him down. Not that Stanzix was anywhere in sight.I lay in a pile of rubble in the center of the room.

"Man, you guys need practice. _Lots_ of it, you know? All I did was use one simple power, and boom, you're all down for the count." I whipped around, toward the gate on the opposite side of the room from Chiro and Fran. There, sitting on one of the many seats, was Stanzix. As I attempted to stand, the Nobody gracefully glided across the room toward me, summoning his blade and pressing it against my throat before I could make any further movements."I really like your attatude, Dan, but-" That was as far as he'd gotten before my foot ended up in his... Well, lets just say had Stanzix been able to, he wouldn't be procreating for a while. He stood hunched over as I stood strongly -even though it took all of my combined effort to not collapse where I stood- in front of him.

"Never, _ever_ call me _Dan_, you got it?" The venom seeping out of my voice would later terrify me. As I walked carefully up to the crouched over Nobody, about to deal the final blow when he whipped his head up, a broad and winning smirk plastered all over his face.

"Psyche!" He yelled out, before kicking me right in my liver. The breath was sucked out of my lungs, and I lay, almost convulsing on the ground as I tried to re-coordinate myself. I fianlly managed to look upwards, toward Stanzix and the first theing I saw was his Silver blade plunging toward me, hungry for another Heart. I knew at once that it was far, far too late to dodge.

I was going to die.

* * *

**(1)** - Notice anything? 'Zepher' 'Syu' and 'Twilight'? Hint: check out some of the names up in the disclaimer. -smiles slyly-

--

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

You all hate me now, don't you?


	26. Gain, Lose and Gain again

**Disclaimers:** Danny Phantom, Skulker, Vlad © Butch Hartman

Sora, Axel, Riku, Kairi, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Cid, Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, 'Possessor' Heartless, Darkside, Nobodies, Heartless © Kingdom Hearts © Sq/Enix

Vonnix, Nexidal © My sister, Gremblin. She will burn you alive if you steal him/them. And I'm not kidding, either. Seriously.

Myxra © Twilight101

Kirex © Syuveil

Xyrzeh © Shining Zepher

Xalara, Mendirax, Naxan, Erradexn, Stanzix, Harintex, 'Camview' Nobody © Myself.

Toad (Daxot) © X-men/X-Men Evolution © Marvel

Edward Elric, Envy © Fullmetal Alchemist © SquEnix/Hiromu Arakawa

Balthier, Vaan, Fran, 'Magicite', 'Auracite', Nalbina, Balfonhiem, Rabanastre, ETC... © Final Fantasy XII/ FF-XII: Revenant Wings (Magicite: Various Final fantasies) © SquEnix

Rodney McKay, Atlantis, Wraith, Weir, Radek, Puddlejumpers © Stargate (SG1, SGA) © MGM

Chiro © Super Robot Monkey Team... © ?

Atlantica (and all related) © The Little Mermaid © Disney

Rayquaza © Pokemon © ? (Can't remember at the moment)

Volvagia © LOZ:OOT © ?

Altair © Assassins Creed © Ubisoft **_(Awesome game. Play it. Seriously. The end is a giant DaVinci code that'll leave ya tearing for more!)_**

**Authors notes:** Holy crap. Talk about slow updates. I'm soooo sorry... First I couldn't write cause my horrible Compy got a virus, then I needed to figure out what the chapter was even gonna be about and how it could tie in with future workings. (NEWYEARINTERMISSION!) I then had to get my wisdom teeth pulled -ohgodthesickandhunger- , and if all that wasn't enough, Karma had to get on my ass (I have a nasty habit of _NOT_ wearing my winter jacket) and gave me a horrible over-the-school-break cold.

Also, I have no idea how Hayner addresses older men he doesn't know. 'Mister' was pretty much just thrown in for lack of information.

* * *

The afternoon sun glowed calmly over Twilight Town. In the distance, Vlad could see a train moving slowly across a bay, toward the station he sat on. Well, the Clock tower of the station he sat on, anyway. It had been quite some time since Clockwork had told him to wait for Danny. He was growing impatient, and was on the verge of going off to find the boy himself. All-powerful keyblade incarnation or not, Danny had no reason to keep him waiting for so long. Of course, the boy didn't know Vlad _was_ waiting, so he technically had no room to speak.  
He sighed. Recently, patience was not his forte.

He jumped slightly and straightened as a noise was heard to his left. Looking, he saw three kids ambling around the side of the clock tower, all holding blue ice cream bars of some sort. He recognized one of the children as Hayner. The others must've been the 'gang' Hayner had mentioned in their last encounter. But while Vlad looked upon the group with a studying sort of interest, Hayner and his friends looked slightly surprised and uncomfortable.

"Oh, hey Mister." The boy turned to his friends. "Guys, this is the old man I told you about." Vlad stiffened at being called old. Just because one has white hair did not mean they were aged. 'Look at Daniel, for petes sake!' He thought. 'The boy has hair as white as the snow, and he's only 14! Granted, half the time it's black, but still...!'

"What's your name, Mister? You never told me before." Vlad relaxed again, leaning once more against the Clock tower walls.

"My name is Vlad." Hayner smiled and nodded.

"OK. Well, this is Olette, and Pence." Vlad nodded.

"It's nice to meet you." The two children he had just met looked at each other, some of there worry about him seeming to disappear at his introduction. Olette turned to him.

"Hayner said you know Sora. If you don't mind me asking, how?" Vlad chuckled.

"How? How not. He's apparently been hanging out with an acquaintance of mine, young Daniel Fenton." Recognition flashed through Hayners eyes.

"Wait... I think I know who you're talkin' about! That kid that was here a couple days ago! He had black hair and weird cloths, never really talked to anyone. Just wandered aimlessly through town." Hayner held his chin in his right hand before speaking again. "He had eyes as blue as Sora's." Vlad chuckled.

"Yes, that's Daniel. And I'm not surprised he didn't talk to anyone. His friends often got him into trouble, and vise-versa." Suddenly, a greenish portal appeared in the distance on the only set of tracks that wasn't used. It seemed misty, and it reminded him of a ghost portal, only without the machinery that was used to keep it constantly stable. He looked further down the track, away from the portal. A purple and gold train could be seen, ambling slowly towards the open portal with no apparent driver, or passengers for that matter. It's design reminded him of a portrait he'd seen elsewhere in this town; of a mouselike creature dressed as a king. His name was Mickey, if memory served.  
Vlad knew at once that if he was to make it through that portal before the train moved through it -possibly triggering it to close- he would have to move fast. Walking would not be an option.

"Hayner." Vlad said, without taking his eyes off the train as he carefully stood up. Hayner cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

"You must promise, you and your friends, not to tell anyone about what you are about to see. It's gotten me into enough trouble back home, I don't feel like getting overly-noticed here, as well." Hayner nodded, an oddly understanding glint in his eyes. "Good." Without another word, Vlad jumped off the tower, letting his 'ghost half' take him over as he blasted toward the greenish, misty portal that led to who knew where. He smiled faintly at hearing the reaction from the three behind him awed, surprised and excited all at the same time. but it quickly cut off as he flew out of hearing distance, and through the strange portal.

Almost at once, the only thing he sensed was nothingness. It felt like when you sat too long on one of your body parts; that inside pins-and-needles feeling, with eventually numbing. Except this time, it was on the outside. Mix that with the feeling that you couldn't move at all. That's what he felt.

The minute Vlad could see again, he noted to himself that he was apparently in a medieval office of sorts, containing a table, several bookshelves and a rather obvious wizards robe -dangling from a hook on the wall-. However, it appeared to not have been used in quite some time; dust coated it in a fine yet visible layer. In fact, the dust coated most everything in a fine yet visible layer, indicating that the room hadn't had any kind of contact for months, possibly even years.  
On the desk, Vlad noticed an oddly clean book. It was rather thick, and seemed to exude an air of magic. And as if by that very substance, it opened approximately to the center of the book, glowing a moment before having a few paragraphs of writing visible on it. He walked over, carefully stroking the book once before glancing at what the pages read.

'_-The Story That Shouldn't Be-_

_The Door is pulled by an unknown force  
Toward the first Key that locked it  
Though once enemies  
They will cooperate to achieve a common goal  
Along the door, one Key will die  
But another will rise and fly  
And three more will resurrect from Nothing'  
_

Vlad sighed lightly as he read the odd poem-like entry. It seemed to imply that 'The Door' -that 'Sora' child, likely- and the 'First Key' -probably Danny- were enemys before, but would become friends now, and would cooperate to defeat a common enemy. One of 'The Doors' friends would die, but another would become stronger through it. 'Three more will resurrect from Nothing' likely refered to himself, Danny and Guidance; whom Vlad had spoken with before. But there was another entry on the books pages, so he read on.

'_-The Story Yet to Come-_

_The time will come  
When Light and Dark will intertwine  
Forced to fight a Shadow of Balance  
The unaccepting Door  
Will find his friend in the Endless  
And the Keys  
Forced finally to join them all  
Will the Dark find freedom in the donated Heart?  
Only the Light of Darkness  
Will hold the Key to Healing' _

Vlad cocked an eyebrow. This one was a little vague, if not confusing. Light and Dark intertwining? What were these 'Endless' that the poem mentioned? And who or what was the Shadow of Balance' it said would be fought? Perhaps that thing that Clockwork said wouldn't be held for much longer? But what was this about the Dark and donated Hearts? Oh well. He would look into that later. After all, it was 'yet to come'.

Vlad turned, jumping as a silvery-white portal almost the same shade as a Dusk opened up in front of the large door behind him. It seemed as if this portal was the way out. Not out of the Tower, but wherever the first portal had placed him; when he looked out of the window, it looked as if the tower was floating atop a sea of orange clouds. He turned again, figuring that if noone was left to tend to this strange tower, certainly nobody would miss the seemingly magical book that apparently knew the future.  
He grabbed it, closing it and tucking it under one of his arms as he sauntered towards, and ultimately through the silver portal.

0o0o0o0

I could only stare as the silver, music-themed blade plunged toward me. Certainly, it was not time to die? I mean, I was a Keyblade! Granted, I had only barely discovered this, but still! Didn't I have _some_ kind of ability that could save me from death?

I closed my eyes, forgetting in my panic that I could turn intangible, and quite easily dodged this kind of attack almost daily back home. But instead of a piercing pain, I only felt the aura of another body close to my own. Cautiously, I opened my eyes again, only to see the faded white and sand blown robes of an older man, who held a blade of his own and was using it to block Stanzix's. Stanzix's blade twitched and the other man, in one swift movement, kicked Stanzix's blade arm out of his way, slashed the Nobody's knee, then shoved his sword through Stanzix's heart. He pulled him close, seemed to sniff the Nobody, then tossed him away, turning to me after sheathing his sword. He spoke rapid Arabic, so I couldn't understand a word. The man seemed to realize this, and while helping me to my feet, pointed to himself and said one word, assumedly his name.

"Altair." He said. I pointed at myself. It was a childish way of telling someone your name, but efficient if you didn't know the other persons language.

"Danny." The man nodded, looking around at the carnage, and almost at once darting around to help the others of our group back to their feet. I turned to join him, but stopped as I heard Stanzix call out softly. Not enough to get Altair's attention, it seemed, but enough to catch mine. Carefully, I walked over.

"Please listen...!" I scoffed.

"Why? Why shouldn't I just get our new friends attention, and let him finish you off?" I looked at the wound he bore. It wasn't big, but it was spouting off some odd black, thorny material that seemed to disappear upon hitting the air surrounding it. He looked around once before speaking, as if he didn't want somebody to hear him.

"Because I have information valuable to you!" I thought for a moment. What exactly did I have to lose by wasting time with Stanzix? I certainly couldn't heal wounds. I could dress them, no problem, but Magic wasn't yet my forte, and I never could fix up cuts and the like very well. Plus, this man was not human, and I had never seen any blood come out of the creatures called Nobodies.

"Fine. Not like it'll cost me anything." Stanzix panted for a moment before speaking again.

"Neh... Nexidal. Did he tell you-?" I cut him off, knowing what he was gonna say.

"About the bunch of Organization Thirteen members that planned to rebel, before Xemnas caught them?" Stanzix chuckled.

"Yeah... that." I cocked an eyebrow.

"What about it?" I started slightly, looking away as Stanzix coughed up 'blood', only barely resisting the urge to try and heal him. Valuable information or not, if I healed him, the unofficial villains guidebook of cliches (1) stated that that course of action would give Stanzix leave to up and run away. Which would be bad, as we likely wouldn't be able to pull this off again.

"I was one of them." I could've broken my neck with how fast I looked back at him.

"Then why d'you keep attacking us?!"

"Because of... what Xemnas promised me." I groaned. Not _this_ again. That was rule 12 in the villains guidebook of cliches. If the main villain has minions with undying loyalty, you can be sure they've been bribed. Stanzix must've been able to read the look in my eyes, because he shook his head 'no' and spoke once more. "Not a heart, not paradise, no!" I looked at him, curious. What else did the man have to offer besides infinite life and paradise?

"Then, what?" Stanzix looked away.

"My... brother...." I paused for a moment, taken by surprise.

"You have a brother?" Stanzix, however, shook his head 'no'.

"Not anymore. He was t-turned into... a Nobody a long time ago... It got him killed. Xemnas made me swear loyalty... after he promised to revive my brother. His name was Myde." I narrowed my eyes.

"That name sounds familiar." The dying man chuckled.

"Sora should know him. Anyway... I can't tell you... who else was in on the rebellion... But I can say that Xemnas made similar offers to the rest... of them. Only two other members are true to the rebellion now... Nexidal is one of them. I don't know who the other one is..." I looked around. The others seemed to be getting on well. They looked like they'd wake up soon.

"Anything else?" I asked. Stanzix nodded.

"Yeah. It's about Naxan... When you're fighting her, watch her shadow... It's not just a reflection caused by light... Ignoring it could mean your death." My eyes widened. That sounded important. I was glad I decided to hear the man out, now. I made to help Altair out, but a tug on my leg told me Stanzix wasn't yet done. "One more thing... It'll mean nothing now, but I gotta say it anyway... When you get to that world that Sora refuses to save, look for Altomare in Cadmium Slums. He'll help you." Finally, Stanzix's essence seemed to have had enough, and he faded into nothing, leaving behind only a stained bit of ground and some personal words that meant nothing to me.

"Man, I haven't felt this bad since my first fight with Gilgamesh..."(2) I turned around when I heard Vaans voice. The others were awake, it seemed. I put Stanzix words away into the back of my mind and walked over to them.

"Stanzix is dead." I announced, earning many a happy face. For some reason, it felt slightly bad to see all that happy radiating off the fact that somebody had died. Villain or not, even the bad guys deserved a _bit_ of pity.

"We gonna... gonna f-IInd that 'keyhole'... now, or LAAter...?" I smirked slightly, holding back a laugh at how Edward spoke. As he had taken the brunt of Stanzix's energy blast, he had also taken the most damage. At the moment, he sat down on the sandy, cobblestone road, Altair bandaging him up. He wasn't at all trying to be being gentle, so the boys voice changed pitch randomly when he spoke. I opened my mouth to speak, but was cut off by Balthier, who marched authoritatively between everyone.

"Ah, but we can't find something that's already been found, now can we?" He said, earning more than a few confused looks. "This 'Keyhole' is what we've been hunting after this whole time, right? In a game, one fights bosses before he reaches his goal. I do believe we've just done such. The bosses are gone, and what, pray tell, is our goal?" He pointed towards a ship docked in the distance. "The Strahl. It appears to me that the old girl holds exactly what Danny and Sora've been looking for. Now come." Too lazy to retaliate, the group stood -albeit, shakily-, following through the ruined building towards the dock that held the ship.

Once there, Sora was not surprised to not see any sign of a Keyhole. I, as well, couldn't sense one. -not that I could before-

"So what now?" I asked. I was answered by cannon fire to my back, knocking me over as the blast continued onwards, connecting with the wall and creating a sort of portal-like space in which a very obvious keyhole sat. I made to move toward it, but stopped as the inside of my left pocket burned. Quickly, I reached inside, pulling out something I had forgotten. Guidance's keychain. Curious, Sora looked over at me, slightly amused, curious and happy at seeing the keychain. He walked over to me.

"Is that a keychain?" I nodded. "Why not try equipping it?" I blinked, lost.

"What?" Sora seemed unfazed, and continued.

"When I get a new Keychain, I put it on Kingdom to see what it looks like, and what it's effects are. Maybe if you concentrate, you can 'equip' that one in the same manner." I looked down at it. It was certainly worth a try.

"How do you do it?" I asked him.

"Well, I normally just put it on, but for you, you'd probably have to concentrate on changing shape, or something..." I blinked, smiling a little.

"Like how I do when I turn into my ghost form...!" Sora nodded, slightly confused.

"Well, do get on with it, then. I'd rather like to have all this Heartless nonsense done and over with, at least here in Ivalice. As if travelers get enough trouble from regular beasts..." I nodded toward the slightly peeved sky pirate, closing my fist around the small, warm orb and pulling it close to my chest. I closed my eyes, digging into my soul and feeling around my swirling energies, finding my ghost abilities but not waking them. I pushed and prodded my soul a bit more, before finding a touch of something I had encountered once before, in a dream not long after recovering from the Ghost Portals shock. Exploring around it, I discovered it was a huge, and immense, but dormant power. Carefully, I reached out to it, trying out the tactics I had used while trying to master transforming into my ghost self. Much to my surprise, it reached out to me, feeling around the odd new energies trying to make contact with it. It felt around me, pausing as it found the dying flame that was the Guidance keychain.

"A new... power... I will... grant you..." It whispered, feeding life into the keychain I held, transforming it into energy not unlike that of my ghost self. It was quick, taking no more than a few seconds before retreating back into itself, becoming dormant once more. However, the new energy flowed and ebbed, urging me to use it. It was not at all shy; pushing and prodding, almost excited at what was going on. I moved forward, making first contact. The energy accepted me quickly, nearly ten times faster than my ghost energy had. As if I was _supposed_ to wield it. I felt my 'being' changing, and was immediately spewed back forth into reality, a pair of energy rings, golden in color, moved both up and down my body, morphing me into a form that felt far more right than my ghost self. The first voice I heard speak was Chiro.

"You look like an Angel..." He said softly. Beside him, Altair was looking upon me with equal awe. I looked myself over. My hair was white, like in my ghost form, but had a more golden tone to it rather than a silver one. A pair of wings jutted from what I assumed were my shoulder blades, and looked to be more for show than actual flight. The shirt and pants I wore were a swirling mixture of golds, yellows, and a few very light, pastel-y purple colors, and seemed to be constantly fading into nothing at the ragged, torn-up and frayed ends. I wore a cape of similar make and color, though it had a distinctive red-gold-yellow coloration, and faded into nothing at the frayed ends, like my shirt and pants. For some reason, I reached up and touched my ears, finding that they had gained a delicate point to them, like Dans. I had a feeling my eyes had changed color, as well.  
Suddenly, I could feel the energy of everything around me; it came in a brutal pounding, and I staggered as I attempted to regain my balance.

"Whoa..." I muttered, shaking my head as I roughly held the ability back. "This'll take some getting used to." Beside me, Sora chuckled.

"C'mon, you need to lock the keyhole, so we can get going." I turned to him, nodding before moving up to the swirling space in front of me. Sora nodded, gesturing into it."It's alright. Some keyholes are inside a Neutral zone, where only certain beings can find them. Like Keybearers, or Heartless." I gulped, smiling at him for a moment before carefully walking into what Sora had called a 'Neutral zone'. Instantly, the way out shut behind me, and I was marauded by an immense new energy. Much to my surprise, it spoke.

"_Oh, you are young... Younger than the last one..._" I raised an eyebrow, confused.

"Younger than who?"

"_Him... That last one that sealed us up... It seems so long ago, now. We can't remember very well._"

"Do you mean Sora?" The energy laughed softly.

"_No... But that boy reminds us of Him very much._" I took a step forward.

"If you don't mind my asking... What are you?" It laughed again.

"_Nothing, Everything. I am Heart and I am Soul, I am Light, as well as Dark. You however, are none of these, but all of them at once; more commonly known to us as Balance..._"I swallowed my confusion as I stepped closer to the keyhole.

"I'm supposed to lock this."

"_Ohh... Yes, yes... Keys need to lock. I hold you no further... We are eager to get back to the eternal rest, and watch of our people..._" It quickly fell silent, it's presence disappearing as I pressed my hand to the keyhole floating in front of me, willing it to lock, and smiling as it obeyed, with less resistance than before. Almost at once, I found myself standing a few feet in front of my friends, Sora smiling at me.

"Did you lock it?" I smiled back, eagerly reverting back to my human form.

"Yup." I frowned slightly. "Have... you ever been talked to when you locked those kind of keyholes?" Sora frowned back.

"No, never. Why? What happened?"

"Some weird energy kept talking to me. It said that I was 'younger than the last one that sealed it'. It knew who and what I was." The others looked worried. Sora however, sighed, apparently relieved.

"If I could guess, I'd say that it was Ivalice you were talking with." Balthier cocked an eyebrow.

"Well that's new, then." He gestured to Danny. "I've never known a landmass, of all things, to be sentient." He shrugged, turning away to look his ship up and down. "Oh, well. I've encountered stranger things." Sora chuckled, waving the group toward the exit. I sighed, clutching the small pouch dangling around my neck. How long would I have to wait for it to open?

0o0o0o0

Once we had arrived at the Ship, Balthier and Vaan had pulled everyone off to the side for a moment. It appeared as though Balthier wanted to tell the group something important.

"Alright. Now, I realize you and your friends require help in reaching your goal, but I would prefer it if I stayed behind, here on Ivalice and helped exterminate the rest of those heartless creatures. Besides." He turned to Sora. "Aren't people supposed to stay oblivious to the other worlds in existence out there? What better way then not going to them?" Suddenly, he turned to Chiro. "I've been curious. Your world. Is it alright? You've been awfully depressed and quiet since that band of merry men captured you." The small boy shook his head.

"I'm not sure. I know that the Heartless attacked. They broke into the Super Robot, then after a while, all I could see was black. I thought it was the Skeleton Kings doing, at first. Then I woke up in a prison, with all the others." Vaan frowned.

"Well, hey. Why not stay with us until Sora can find out if your worlds still out there? I'm sure the realm wouldn't mind a little relocation." Chiro smiled, nodding before turning to Sora.

"Is it okay with you?" Sora chuckled.

"I don't mind. Plus, I'm sure Vaan could use more help." As we all walked back into the ship -sans Balthier and Chiro- Sora turned, yelling out to the trio as the hatch began to close. "I'll come and get you when I find it! What's it called?" Chiro smiled.

"Shuggazoom!" If Chiro had said any more, it was killed off by the Gummis engines.

I turned to the remaining people.

"So, where to now?" As I spoke, Edward looked the group over, seriousness flooding his face.

"My world. Amestris."

* * *

(1) - No such thing. I made it up on the spot for comic relief.

(2) - That's actually a personal sort of reference; on my first fight with Gilgamesh, I got my ass handed to me. It's a hard fight on the first go.


End file.
